Twelve months after writing her name in Wimbledon history, Marketa Vondrousova made history of a different sort on Tuesday when she was defeated in the first round by Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, a Spaniard who had never won a grand slam match before.
Vondrousova was totally out of sorts as she lost 6-4, 6-2 – the first defending women’s singles champion to be defeated in round one since Steffi Graf was beaten by Lori McNeil in 1994. Lleyton Hewitt was the last male champion to lose at the first hurdle, beaten by Ivo Karlovic in 2003.
Vondrousova, the sixth seed, had pulled out of the warm-up event in Berlin after a nasty fall and the Czech struggled from the start against Bouzas Maneiro, serving a double-fault three times in the first game. Ranked No 83 in the world, the 21-year-old played one warm‑up event on grass, in Italy, and lost in the first round, but on Tuesday she was calm, poised and took full advantage of her off‑colour opponent to send another big name out, after Aryna Sabalenka’s withdrawal on day one.
“I’m really happy,” Bouzas Maneiro said. “This is one of the most amazing moments of my life and my career. I was a little nervous at first but I don’t know, it’s so nice here, I felt at home on Centre Court. Marketa’s a great player, she won here last year, so I had no pressure. I just wanted to enjoy the match.”
Carrying the mantle of grand slam title winner and specifically Wimbledon champion has been an honour and a pressure for Vondrousova, someone who doesn’t usually seek out the limelight. Returning to Centre Court as champion, she said, was a pleasure, but it also brought with it some stress.
“It’s tough to go out defending the title,” she said. “Today I was a bit scared because of my leg, too. But I don’t think that was the reason. I felt nervous from the start. Overall it was very tough. It’s tough feelings also to go back. I feel like everybody just expects you to win, maybe. That’s tough, too. I was happy to be back on the Centre Court. It just didn’t go as planned today.”
Having won her fourth French Open title in June, Iga Swiatek chose to rest rather than get some match practice on grass. Considering the quarter-final run last year is her best effort here so far, it was a risk but the world No 1 looked strong as she beat the American Sofia Kenin, 6-3, 6-4.
It is only four years since Kenin won the Australian Open and she also made the final at Roland Garros the same year, losing against Swiatek. After a year or more in the wilderness, she has made her way back into the top 50 and presented Swiatek with plenty of problems, her crisp hitting pushing the Pole back.
But Swiatek settled any nerves there may have been with an early break and she was never behind. She dropped only six points on first serve in the match and one in the second set and, when it came to serving for the match, she closed out to love.
“For sure it was a solid start and not an easy draw,” said Swiatek, who has now won 20 matches in a row. “Nowadays on WTA tour it’s pretty easy to play against grand slam champions, even in the first round. There’s no time to kind of get into the tournament slowly.
“On this surface it’s not about the result for me but it’s about the progress and how I’m going to feel, if I’m doing things better than last year. On the practice court I’ve been feeling like every year I am playing a bit better than last year. I’ve had a great start to the season so I could come here and not worry about points or anything and just focus on the progress.”
Elena Rybakina, the champion here in 2022, came into the tournament as the fourth seed but with doubts about her health, having pulled out of a number of events this year through illness. The Kazakhstani fell a break down early against Elena‑Gabriela Ruse of Romania but ran out a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 winner.
The fifth seed, Jessica Pegula of the US, beat her compatriot Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-0 to reach round two, while the No 13 seed Jelena Ostapenko, a former French Open champion, cruised past Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-2.
