Qualifier Sofia Kenin upset seventh seed Coco Gauff on Monday to advance to the second round at Wimbledon. Kenin, 24, a former world number four, beat her fellow American 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Court 1 to continue her comeback from the lower reaches of the circuit.
In January 2020, Kenin overwhelmed Garbine Muguruza to claim the Australian Open title. In June 2020, a leg injury hampered her movement during her loss in the French Open final to Iga Swiatek.
Since those highs, her form plummeted and she was forced to go through the qualifying tournament for this year's championships.
She seized on a loose service game from Gauff to break for a 2-1 lead and - profiting from an occasionally flustered Gauff - held on to claim the opener.
Loss
Gauff broke early in the second set and moved 3-0 ahead. But Kenin nudged her way back to 3-3.
She eventually cracked when serving to level at 5-5. With the expectation on Gauff to surge on, Kenin struck immediately at the start of the decider and held for 2-0.
Gauff squandered several chances to level at 2-2 before falling away.
"Sofia had nothing to lose today," said Gauff. "Obviously she has won a Grand Slam but she's in a tough spot in her career.
"So I knew coming into the match she would play with a lot of motivation. It was all about how I would play today and how I would take care of my end of the court ... I did in certain moments, but obviously not enough."
Cruise
Women's top seed Iga Swiatek shrugged off a 20-minute rain delay to cruise into the second round.
The 22-year-old Pole, having claimed the first set 6-1 against Lin Zhu, had just broken serve to lead 4-3 in the second set when the rain started to fall on No 1 Court.
The players were ordered off and when they returned Swiatek held service to extend her lead to 5-3.
Zhu, who had shown signs of resistance towards the end of the first set, was out of the tournament a few minutes later.
“I feel really kind of confident," said Swiatek after her 81-minute victory. "I felt like I did a really good job adjusting to grass.
"I wanted to see how today was going to go and when I came on court, it felt amazing.
“I’m just happy to be here and happy to be able to play my own game.”
Return
Swiatek suffered a scare last week when she went down with a fever and suspected food poisoning just before her semi-final at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany.
“I’m happy that I had time to recover,” added Swiatek who won the French Open last month in Paris.
“Before a Grand Slam, you never want to risk being too fatigued, so I think we did everything well and I feel prepared.
"I had a chance to practise on Sunday and it has been all good. I feel like I’m in the rhythm.”
Elsewhere in the women's draw, fourth seed Jessica Pegula took three sets to get past her fellow American Lauren Davis. Pegula won the decider 6-3 to end two hours and 20 minutes of combat. Fifth seed Caroline Garcia was a tad more expedite.
The Frenchwoman, who reached the last-16 in 2022, saw off Katie Volynets 6-4, 6-3 in 84 minutes.
