Day 1 at Wimbledon. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz had to work hard (a little). Daniil Medvedev performed well and the day was mixed for the Blues.
The title holder
Carlos Alcaraz opened the ball on Center Court. And it was no walk in the park facing the surprising Estonian Mark Lajal, 269th in the world. After having suffered in the first two won acts (7-6, 7-5), being broken each time in the first two sets, the world number 3 unfolded in the 3rd act (6-2).
L’outsider
Grass is not Daniil Medvedev’s favorite surface, but the Russian is making progress. A semi-finalist last year at Wimbledon, he outclassed American Aleksandar Kovasevic (6-3, 6-4, 6-2), in just under 2 hours. Clean.
Blues
Drafted from qualifying, Luca van Assche was swept away in three sets by veteran Fabio Fognini (6-1, 6-3, 7-5). In the 100% French duels, Gaël Monfils, recent semi-finalist in Mallorca, dominated Adrian Mannarino (6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4) and Alexandre Muller was stronger than Hugo Gaston ( 6-4, 7-6, 7-6). In the 2nd round, the Monf’ will find another veteran Stan Wawrinka. And Muller will challenge Daniil Medvedev. The adventure ends for Maxime Jan, out of qualifying. The 27-year-old native of Creil was logically dominated by the Chinese Zizhen Zhang (7-6, 6-3, 6-2).
The Blues
8th finalist at Roland-Garros, Varvara Gracheva got off to a good start at Wimbledon with a clean and flawless victory against the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (6-3, 6-1). The Frenchwoman of Russian origin will face another Ukrainian in the second round: Dayana Yastremska, seeded 28. no feat from Diane Parry against Naomi Osaka. The Japanese strolled through the first act 6-1 in 22 minutes. Then the French went on to 6-1 and led 3-1 in the last act, before breaking down in the final act with no less than… three double faults in the last, to offer qualification to the Japanese.
The package
Injured in the shoulder, Aryna Sabalenka threw in the towel before entering the fray. The world number 3, who reached the final four in 2021 and 2023, was one of the most serious outsiders. The Belarusian was due to face the American Emira Bektas (106th in the world) on Monday.
The phrase
Faller of the Australian Alex Bolt in three sets (7-6, 6-4, 6-4), Casper Ruud, whose grass is not his cup of tea, declared after his victory “these shorts are so perfect. I almost feel bad for damaging them ».
2024-07-01 16:21:41
#Alcaraz #Monfils #Sabalenka.. #remember #day
