Eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece was upset by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the first round of Wimbledon on Wednesday despite taking the first set 6-0.
Kostyuk rebounded for a 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 53 minutes over the World No. 8 to advance. Sakkari’s 48 unforced errors were her undoing. Kostyuk defeated Sakkari for the first time in three tries and scored the first top-10 victory in her career.
A second interruption caused by rain helped Kostyuk get over getting shut out in the first.
“It helped me to calm down even more [than the first],” Kostyuk said afterward. “I had that extra time to put myself together, in a way. I don’t know, honestly, I don’t know how the match would turn out if there was no rain breaks.
“This one means a lot, because it was my 15th attempt to beat Top-10 player. Yeah, I had to do a check on my list. Very happy that that pressure is off my shoulders.”
Top-seeded Iga Swiatek marched into the third round in dominating fashion – again – with a 6-2, 6-0 dismantling of Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. Swiatek becomes the youngest player since 2008 (Maria Sharapova) to win 20 sets 6-0 in grand slam tournaments.
“I was able to kind of do everything tactically as I wanted to, as my coach wanted me to do, on first and second round,” Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. “I feel confident. I’m going to try to kind of keep it going.”
Russia’s Mira Andreeva, 16, won her Wimbledon debut with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over Xiyu Wang. Andreeva draws No. 10 Barbora Krecikova in the second round.
Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and No. 11 Daria Kasatkina of Russia both knocked off Brits in straight sets to advance. Krejcikova was a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Heather Watson in her opener while Kasatkina ousted Jodi Burrage 6-0, 6-2 in their second-round match.
Ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic outlasted Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 in just more than two hours in her first-round match.
No. 13 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil rallied to defeat Yulia Putintseva 3-6, 6-0, 6-4.
No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, No. 20 Donna Vekic of Croatia, No. 21 Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 22 Anastasia Potapova of Russia and No. 25 Madison Keys were all straight-set winners in first-round matches.
No. 18 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic fell in straight sets to Serbian Natalija Stevanovic, ranked No. 225 in the world.
Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova upended No. 27 Bernarda Pera 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 in a first-round match.
Unseeded Americans Sloane Stephens and Danielle Collins won their matches in straight sets.
–Field Level Media
