Defending women's champion Vondrousova ousted in 1st round at Wimbledon
Canada's Fernandez easily wins 1st-round match
Defending champion Marketa Vondrousova was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday, the first female holder to fall at the opening hurdle since Steffi Graf 30 years ago.
Czech Vondrousova, who became the first unseeded woman to lift the title last year, earned a far less welcome accolade after a 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
"Yeah, it just didn't go as planned today," a downcast Vondrousova said, adding that despite her best efforts the pressure of defending the title had got to her. "I feel like even if you don't want to think about it, you just think about it ... all the time here, I see posters here and everything, my name everywhere.
"Today I was really nervous since the start. I couldn't shake it off. Also she was playing good. I didn't have many chances to come back into the match or she didn't give me many free points. Yeah, credit to her. I'm going to come back stronger, I hope."
Ranked world No. 83, Bouzas Maneiro had won only one tour-level match all year heading into Wimbledon, but secured her first win across all Grand Slams when she slapped a backhand down the line.
"It is one of the most important moments of my life," the Spaniard smiled as she soaked up the cheers. "I'm just ... I'm surprised with myself to be honest."
WATCH: Fernandez advances to 2nd round:
Canada's Fernandez wins easily
Canada's Leylah Fernandez continued her impressive grass-court season with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italy's Lucia Bronzetti.
Fernandez, seeded 30th in the women's singles draw at the All England Club, had three breaks in the match, including a key win to go up 4-2 in the second set.
The 21-year-old from Laval, Que., won 80 per cent of both first serve points and net points, hit 21 winners to Bronzetti's 10 and outscored her opponent 73-57 on total points.
Fernandez, who advanced to the final at the Eastbourne International heading into Wimbledon, improved to 7-2 on grass this season.
She joins Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., who won their first-round matches Monday, in the second round.
Fernandez, who has never made it past the second round at Wimbledon, will next face Danish wild card Caroline Wozniacki, a former world No. 1. Wozniacki moved on with a 6-2, 6-0 win over American qualifier Alycia Parks.
Later Tuesday, 19-year-old qualifier Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., lost 6-4, 6-2 to 27th seed Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic while in men's action, 17th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal had his match against Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis suspended due to darkness with the fourth set tied 1-1.
Auger-Aliassime prevailed 6-4, 7-5 in the first two sets.
Siniakova converted all 12 net points and four of 24 break points against Stakusic.
In a wild third-set tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime came back from 5-0 down and had four match points, including two on serve, but couldn't put the Australian away.
WATCH | Stakusic eliminated in Wimbledon main draw debut:
Djokovic sports sleeve on surgically repaired knee
Novak Djokovic wore a grey sleeve on his surgically repaired right knee while winning his first-round match at Wimbledon without too much of a test.
Playing his first match since tearing the meniscus in his knee at the French Open on June 3, Djokovic never faced a break point along the way to a 6-01, 6-2, 6-2 victory over qualifier Vit Kopriva in under two hours on Centre Court.
"Obviously started a little bit more cautious, I would say. I didn't really maybe go for certain shots 100 per cent … [in] the first set," said Djokovic. "I played, I think, just enough to win confidently in straight sets. I felt like as the match progressed, I moved better."
Djokovic hurt his knee during a five-set win at Roland Garros and pulled out of that tournament, then had surgery in Paris on June 5.
Andy Murray opts to play doubles over singles
Andy Murray withdrew from Wimbledon singles competition Tuesday but will compete in doubles with his brother, Jamie.
The two-time Wimbledon champion from Great Britain recently underwent surgery to remove a spinal cyst.
"Unfortunately, despite working incredibly hard on his recovery since his operation just over a week ago, Andy has taken the very difficult decision not to play the singles this year," Murray's team said in a statement Tuesday.
Murray, 37, had been scheduled to face Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
Lucky loser David Goffin of Belgium replaced Murray and will take on Machac.
In previous discussions about his future, Murray has indicated he is unlikely to continue his career beyond this summer's Paris Olympics.
In other action, No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev lost, while winners on Day 2 included No. 1 Iga Swiatek, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina and No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula.
With files from Reuters, Associated Press & Field Level Media
