French Open winner Coco Gauff turns into simply the third girl within the Open period to lose within the first spherical at Wimbledon.
Coco Gauff has change into simply the third girl within the Open period to lose within the first spherical at Wimbledon proper after successful the championship on the French Open, eradicated 7-6 (3), 6-1 by the unseeded Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.
The No. 2-ranked Gauff made mistake after mistake at No. 1 Courtroom, ending with simply six winners and a complete of 29 unforced errors, which included 9 double-faults. She joined one other highly-seeded American, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, in bowing out on Day 2 of the event on Tuesday.
“I used to be actually on fireplace,” mentioned Yastremska, who collected 16 winners. “Taking part in in opposition to Coco, it’s one thing particular.”
It was just a bit greater than three weeks in the past that Gauff was celebrating her second Grand Slam title by getting previous No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka within the remaining on the purple clay of Roland-Garros. The 21-year-old American additionally took house the trophy from the 2023 US Open.
However regardless that Gauff’s huge breakthrough got here on the All England Membership at age 15 in 2019, when she beat Venus Williams in her opening match and made all of it the way in which to the fourth spherical, the grass-court event has proved to be her least profitable main.
It’s the solely Grand Slam the place Gauff has at the very least made the semifinals.
Certainly, she has but to get previous the fourth spherical and has now been despatched house within the first spherical twice prior to now three years.
The transition from clay to grass has confirmed robust for many gamers, and the final girl to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the identical season was Serena Williams a decade in the past.
Nonetheless, for the reason that Open period started in 1968, solely Justine Henin in 2005 and Francesca Schiavone in 2010 went from holding the trophy in Paris to exiting instantly in London.
Gauff was by no means fairly at her greatest on Tuesday in opposition to Yastremska, who had misplaced all three of their earlier matchups and is at present ranked forty second. Yastremska’s greatest Grand Slam consequence was making all of it the way in which to the semifinals on the Australian Open’s onerous courts final 12 months, though she entered this occasion with a document of solely 10-11 in first-round matches at majors.
Gauff, in contrast, was 20-3 at that stage, together with a loss to Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon in 2023.
Yastremska’s deepest run at Wimbledon was making the fourth spherical in 2019, though she did get to the ultimate of the junior occasion in 2016.
She lately reached her first event remaining on grass at a smaller occasion in Nottingham, which she mentioned gave her confidence heading to the All England Membership.
“I like taking part in on grass. I really feel that this 12 months we’re type of mates,” Yastremska mentioned with fun. “I hope the street will proceed for me right here.”