A pair of Top 10 seeds were stunned Monday in the opening round at Wimbledon, with No. 8 Holger Rune and No. 9 Daniil Medvedev ousted in London.
Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, behind 31 aces, came from behind to top Denmark’s Rune 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in three hours and 33 minutes.
Benjamin Bonzi of France defeated Medvedev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in three hours, seven minutes. The Russian’s 14 aces were undone by 12 double faults.
For Medvedev, the 2021 winner of the U.S. Open, this marks his third straight early exit at a major this season. He lost in the second round to Learner Tien at the Australian Open in January and suffered a first-round defeat to Cameron Norrie of Great Britain at the French Open in May.
“This is special for me today,” Bonzi said on court after the match. “This is my first Top 10 win at a slam. Obviously, it is always special at this tournament. The atmosphere, all the courts and the grass, everything really. I love this place, so it’s very special and Daniil is a great player.”
Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz narrowly avoided the upset bug. The second-seeded Spaniard needed four hours and 37 minutes to complete a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory against Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who was making his Wimbledon farewell.
“I don’t know why it’s his last Wimbledon, because with the level he has shown, he can still play three or four more years,” said Alcaraz, who improved to 14-1 in five-setters. “I have to give him credit for such a great match. Fabio is such a great player, he has shown in his whole career the level he has. I’m just a little bit sad that it’s his last Wimbledon, but happy to have shared the court with him.”
The players took the court on a scorching 90-degree day, the hottest opening day ever recorded at Wimbledon.
And that could have taken a toll on No. 24 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was trailing French qualifier Valentin Royer 6-3, 6-2 when the Greek succumbed to a back injury after 74 minutes.
“It’s tough to describe. I’m battling many wars these days,” Tsitsipas said following his retirement. “It’s really painful to see myself in a situation like this. One thing that I absolutely hate doing is retiring or stopping a match, but I’ve never pictured myself being in a situation like this multiple times since the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin a couple of years back.
“Since that time, I’ve been very fragile with my body, and I’ve been battling a war of feeling healthy and feeling comfortable going to the extremes, which has been a difficult battle. So I really don’t know. I feel like I’m left without answers. I don’t know. I’ve tried everything. I’ve done an incredible job with my fitness. I’ve done an incredible job with my physiotherapy, so I’ve maximized on everything that I possibly can do. Right now I’m just absolutely left with no answers. I don’t know what to do.”
Meanwhile, No. 12 seed Frances Tiafoe defeated Elmer Moller of Denmark 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. No. 17 Karen Khachanov of Russia was a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 winner over Mackenzie McDonald. No. 23 seed Jiri Lehecka, a Czech, was victorious over Hugo Dellien of Bolivia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (0).
No. 16 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina took an early lead but was defeated by Nuno Borges of Portugal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-0. And Arthur Fery of Great Britain defeated No. 20 Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Other winners in Monday’s first round were Norrie, Tien, Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain, Adrian Mannarino of France, Mattia Bellucci of Italy, Jordan Thompson of Australia, Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, Lloyd Harris of South Africa, Italy’s Luciano Darderi and Chile’s Cristian Garin.
–Field Level Media
