While some of his fellow seeds, notably American hope Jessica Pegula and Italian counterpart Lorenzo Musetti, crashed and burned on a sweltering Tuesday, world number one Jannik Sinner remained composed to advance to the second round at Wimbledon.
After a second day of oppressive heat, Novak Djokovic, 38, will play Frenchman Alexandre Muller tomorrow to continue his quest for a record-tying eighth Wimbledon crown and a solo 25th Grand Slam victory.
In a triumphant comeback to the Grand Slam stage following his thrilling loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final last month, a fiery Sinner easily defeated fellow Italian and close friend Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.
“I’m thrilled about today because first-round matchups are never easy. “Obviously, it’s a little unfortunate for Italian tennis,” Sinner told reporters.
“I am somewhat familiar with him personally. For a few hours, I attempted to put the friendship away. So everything is OK.
The Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Sinner’s other friend Musetti, who had advanced to the semi-finals the previous year, 6-2, 4-6, 7-,5, 6-1 on a humid Court Two.
GO OUT THE DOOR
The exodus of seeded men’s players continued as Spanish player Jaume Munar pulled the Kazakh showman into combat and defeated him 6-4, 3-,6 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2. Wimbledon dark horse Alexander Bublik, seeded 28th, was also unable to escape the departure door.
When fifth-seeded American Taylor Fritz defeated big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7(6) 6-7(8) 6-4, it might as well have been a sigh of relief. 6-4, 7-6(6), in a match that was carried over from Monday.
On Monday, American Tommy Paul easily defeated British player Johannus, the 13th seed, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. However, Alex Michelsen, the 30th seed, lost to Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-2, 3-6, 6-,3 3-6 7-6(6).
In the women’s division, Barbora Krejcikova, the reigning champion, was put to the test by Alexandra Eala, a promising 20-year-old Filipina, but she recovered to win 3-6 6-2 6-1 on her comeback to Centre Court following her unexpected victory the previous year.
Krejcikova complimented her opponent, saying, “I mean, what the hell (type of tennis) she played in the first set?
“Wow, wow, she was cleaning the lines and slamming the ball. In a few years, she will be really talented.
Zeynep Sonmez defeated Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 7-6(5) 6-3 to become the first Turkish woman to advance to the second round of the grasscourt Grand Slam, while Eala lost her opportunity to create history.
Olympic champion and number five seed Qinwen Zheng lost to Czech Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 4-,6 6-1 before third seed Pegula fell to Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2 6-3 in 58 minutes.
After a close first round against Polina Kudermetova, five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek prevailed 7-5, 6-1, while Mirra Andreeva, a teenage Russian, advanced after defeating Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-3.
The Canadian teenager used her good fortune to upset the 25th seed 6-3, 6-2. Victoria Mboko learned a few hours prior to her match against Magdalena Frech that she had reached the main draw as a fortunate loser since Anastasia Potapova had pulled out.
