TENNIS – Coco Gauff shrugged off her Wimbledon gremlins in the nick of time to avoid another early exit yesterday after men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka eased into the third round.
But fifth seed Mirra Andreeva’s dream of becoming the first female player since Serena Williams in 2015 to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back was shattered by former champion Barbora Krejcikova despite saving six match points.
For all her fight and fury, the 19-year-old Andreeva went down 4-6 7-5 6-4 as the understated Krejcikova showed the cool grasscourt craft that took her to the 2024 title.
Novak Djokovic completed the day’s action as he turned his Centre Court clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas – a player he has twice beaten in Grand Slam finals – into an exhibition.
The Serbian veteran, bidding for an eighth Wimbledon crown at the age of 39, was superb in a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win.
The day after seven-times Wimbledon champion Williams’ eagerly awaited comeback ended in defeat, Gauff, the player who took the baton from the American great, again looked vulnerable on the grass but dug in to beat Solana Sierra 6-3 3-6 7-6(10-7).
Gauff, the seventh seed, looked on the brink of a third first-round upset at Wimbledon in four years as Argentina’s Sierra served for the match at 5-4 in the third set.
But she channelled the warrior spirit of Williams to drag herself back and after trailing 7-4 in the tiebreak she conjured a moment of magic at 7-7. Out of position, she flicked away an improbable half-volley winner on the turn from behind the baseline to break Sierra’s spirit.
She sealed victory with an ace to set up a third-round clash with fellow American Claire Liu.
A clutch of European Ryder Cup winners watched from the Royal Box on Centre Court as top seed Sinner took on Portugal’s Nuno Borges and after the hazards the Italian faced in his five-set win over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic the 24-year-old kept it straight down the middle to reach round three.
World number 48 Borges had a set point in the second set, but Sinner was relatively untroubled as he raised his game at the pivotal moments for a 7-6(4) 7-6(2) 6-4 victory.
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