Wimbledon started today with 32 matches in the women’s singles first round. Only four of the matches went to three sets and one of the matches ended early due to a player retiring from the event.
There are usually a few surprises in a tournament with players upsetting higher ranked opponents but four of the top seeds going out on day one seems unpredictable and reflects how close the competition is in women’s tennis.
The biggest surprise of the day has to be second ranked Naomi Osaka being defeated by Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (4), 6-2. This is the second time in 12 days that Putintseva has beaten Osaka and the third time overall; Osaka has never beaten Putintseva. Osaka recently lost her number one overall ranking and had felt relieved of the pressure the top ranking entails. After the loss today, Osaka was obviously upset and even ended her post-match press conference early by saying, “I feel like I’m about to cry.“
The next highest ranked player and the first top player to exit the tournament was Aryna Sabalenka, ranked tenth. Magdalena Rybarikova won 6-2, 6-4 in just 70 minutes of play. Rybarikova has typically not gotten past the second round of tournaments, but her highest finish at a Grand Slam tournament was in 2017 when she reached the Wimbledon semifinals.
The two other upsets over seeded opponents were Shuai Zhang over 23rd ranked Caroline Garcia and Ajla Tomljanovic over 29th ranked Daria Kasatkina.
But quite possibly one of the biggest story-lines of the day was between two unseeded players in Venus Williams and Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff. V. Williams is ranked 44th in the world and one of the most decorated tennis players of all time. Gauff is the youngest player in the tournament at just 15 years-old. Gauff had previously said that she idolized both Serena and Venus Williams growing up so playing V. Williams in her second major tournament match created a whirlwind of emotions. But the young player was able to keep her emotions in check and defeat V. Williams in straight sets. Gauff won 6-4, 6-4 and showed she is more experienced than her age shows. She is the youngest player to win a match at a major since 1991. Gauff looked in control the entire match and was able to take advantages of miscues from V. Williams.
When the two met at the net after the match V. Williams congratulated Gauff on the win. After the match, Gauff revealed that she was able to tell V. Williams how much she means to her and many other young athletes who look up to V. Williams. Not everyone gets to meet their hero, let alone play against them and win. Today is a day that will be hard for Gauff to forget, but she will have to regroup quickly and focus on her next match if she wants to continue her time at Wimbledon.
Wimbledon’s first round resumes tomorrow at 6 am ET on ESPN 3.