Jessica Bouzas Maneiro defeated Marketa Vondrousova, the first defending Wimbledon women’s champion to fall in the first round the following year since 1994, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court on Tuesday. Vondrousova won the All England Club title unexpectedly 12 months ago, becoming the first unseeded woman to win the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
Now she enters the books in a different — and less pleasant — historical way. The only other time in the sport’s Open era, which began in 1968, has a woman gone from a Wimbledon victory to an early exit a year later, when Lori McNeil defeated Steffi Graf 30 years ago. Also read: Novak Djokovic Felt Water Bottle Incident Impacted Him During Italian Open Loss
Marketa Vondrousova was seeded sixth this time, but the left-hander, who also finished second at the 2019 French Open and won silver at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, was never at her best on Tuesday. She appeared to be still recovering from a hip injury sustained in a tumble during a tune-up competition on grass in Berlin last month.
Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, and Jessica Pegula, the fifth seed, both won in straight sets, making their days much easier. Also read: Tomas Machac Becomes The Third Czech To Defeat Andrey Rublev In The Last 30 Days with A Win In Miami
Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon winner, defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse, 6-3, 6-1. Pegula advanced after defeating fellow American Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-0.