No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti became the latest top seeds to lose in the first round at Wimbledon on Tuesday in London.
Zverev and Musetti joined Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev, also seeded in the top 10, who were eliminated in the first round on another hot day on Monday.
Meanwhile, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy sailed through to the next round, and No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia recovered from a dropped set to move on.
Germany’s Zverev, who is still seeking his first Grand Slam championship, was eliminated by France’s Arthur Rinderknech, who crumpled to the grass court after the exhausting 7-6 (3), 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win that lasted four hours, 40 minutes.
The match featured 56 aces — 31 for Zverev — along with 363 total points with just seven points (185 for Rinderknech, 178 for Zverev) separating the two players in the marathon.
Zverev, a finalist at the Australian Open this year, has never advanced past the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Musetti, a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2024, lost to qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. For Basilashvili, it was his first win over a top-10 player in a major and came on a day with temperatures expected to exceed 91 degrees.
Basilashvili hit 15 aces among his 48 winners in the two-hour, 25-minute triumph. Musetti, who led the ATP Tour in wins on grass courts in 2024, missed the grass tuneup season after suffering a left adductor injury in his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the French Open.
“I was struggling to feel comfortable on the court from the beginning,” Musetti said. “Going and going with the match, I was really losing focus and was not reactive on the ball when I was coming out from the serve. Even in the lateral movements, which normally I know how to move, today seems like I never played on this surface. A really bad performance I would say.”
The loss was Musetti’s third in his career in the first round at Wimbledon.
Sinner had no trouble with Luca Nardi, beating his fellow Italian 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 in one hour, 48 minutes. He did not face a break point and had 28 winners and 17 unforced errors compared to 19 and 33, respectively, for Nardi.
“I’m very happy to come back here. It’s such a special place for me,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “Playing against an Italian is for us very unfortunate, but one has to go through, so I’m happy that it is me. The atmosphere as always is amazing. I know it’s very hot, very humid. I don’t remember the last time it was this weather in London.”
Sinner, a three-time major winner, is looking for his first Wimbledon title.
Djokovic, a seven-time champion at Wimbledon, squandered a 5-2 lead in a second-set tiebreaker against Frenchman Alexandre Muller but rebounded for a 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2 victory.
No. 4 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain moved on when Argentine opponent Sebastian Baez — down 6-2, 6-2, 2-1 — retired from the match.
No. 5 seed Taylor Fritz completed Monday’s suspended match, coming from two sets down to defeat France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4.
No. 10 Ben Shelton also avoided the upset bug, defeating Australia’s Alex Bolt 6-4, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4).
No. 11 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia and No. 13 Tommy Paul of the United States also advanced with straight-set wins over Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain and Johannus Monday of Great Britain, respectively. Paul and de Minaur both reached the quarterfinals in 2024.
Czech Jakub Mensik, the No. 15 seed, joined fellow seeds Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (No. 19), Czech Tomas Machac (No. 21) and Flavio Cobolli of Italy (No. 22) in advancing to the second round.
In an all-French thriller, Gael Monfils rallied past No. 18 Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2. Another five-setter between qualifiers saw Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki charge past Italy’s Giulio Zeppieri 2-6, 3-6, 6-3 7-6 (6), 7-5. Hungarian lucky loser Marton Fucsovics hit 18 aces in an upset of Aleksandar Kovacevic, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Argentina’s Mariano Navone defeated Denis Shapovalov of Canada, the No. 27 seed, in four sets. Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia ousted American Alex Michelsen, the No. 30 seed, after winning a fifth-set tiebreaker.
Other winners Thursday were Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, Sebastian Ofner of Austria, Arthur Cazaux of France, Pedro Martinez of Spain and Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.
Also victorious were Jaume Munar of Spain, Daniel Evans and Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain, Botic van de Zandschulp and Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands, August Holmgren of Denmark, Corentin Moutet of France, Croatia’s Marin Cilic, Rinky Hijikata of Australia and Americans Reilly Opelka and Marcos Giron.
–Field Level Media
