Bianca Andreescu continued her successful grass-court season with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over Emina Bektas in first-round action at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Andreescu won 91 per cent of first-serve points and converted five of 10 break-point chances in a match that took just 54 minutes to complete.
It’s the first time the 22-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario, has advanced to the second round at the All England Club.
She is also coming off her first grass-court final, making it to the championship match last week at Bad Homburg, Germany, before falling 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 to France’s Caroline Garcia.
Andreescu wants next face 17th seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Swiatek prevails in straight sets
From the red clay of the French Open to the green grass of Wimbledon, the wins keep coming for Iga Swiatek.
The top-seeded Pole won her opening match on Center Court on Tuesday, beating Croatian qualifier Jana Fett 6-0, 6-3.
The victory was Swiatek’s 36th in row and includes all seven matches she played at this year’s French Open in winning her second title at Roland Garros. It’s the longest winning streak on the women’s tour since 1997, when Martina Hingis won 37.
“It’s my first match on grass this season, so I knew it’s going to be tricky,” Swiatek said on court. “I’m just figuring out how to play here and trying to implement all the stuff that we were practicing on.”
Even with seven-time champion Serena Williams in the draw at the All England Club, Swiatek is the woman to beat. She won five tournaments before heading to Paris in May, earning consecutive titles in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome.
Barbora Krejcikova, who won the French Open in 2021 to split Swiatek’s two titles there, also advanced to the second round. The 13th-seeded Czech defeated Maryna Zanevska of Belgium 7-6 (4), 6-3.
No. 4 Paula Badosa, no. 5 Maria Sakkari, no. 12 Yelena Ostapenko and No. 33 Shuai Zhang of China also advanced.
Among the seeded players to lose was Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. The 14th-seeded Swiss player lost to Qiang Wang of China 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
In the men’s draw, no. 18 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria retired from his match with an apparent injury. He was leading Steve Johnson of the United States 6-4, 2-5 when he stopped.
2-time champion Kvitova advances
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova advanced to the second round at Wimbledon.
The 25th-seeded Czech, who came into the tournament after winning the grass-court tune-up event at Eastbourne, beat Jasmine Paolini of Italy 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Kvitova won the title at the All England Club in 2011 and 2014. She was then attacked in her home in 2016 and suffered knife injuries to her playing left hand. She later had surgery and needed more than five months to recover.
2021 runner-up Berrettini out with COVID
Matteo Berrettini, last year’s runner-up at Wimbledon, dropped out of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament hours before he was scheduled to play his first-round match Tuesday, saying that he tested positive for COVID-19.
The All England Club announced Berrettini’s withdrawal, and Elias Ymer was announced as his replacement.
The Italian is the second high-profile player to pull out of the draw within the first two days because of the illness caused by the coronavirus, joining 2014 US Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic, who was seeded 14th.
The bracket already is without five of the top 11 in the ATP rankings:
- No. 1 Daniil Medvedev (Russian ban)
- No. 2 Alexander Zverev (ankle surgery)
- No. 8 Andrey Rublev (Russian ban)
- No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz (lost Monday) and No. 11 Berretini
An All England Club spokesperson did not respond to a question about what the level of concern is about COVID-19 at the event, but did say in an email organizers have been working with the British Public Health Agency and local authorities.
After being canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic, then setting up a bubble-type environment and restricting attendance in 2021 to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Wimbledon has returned to normal in every way, with no mask-wearing requirement, full crowds and the famous queue back in action.
The eighth-seeded Berrettini spent time practicing with Rafael Nadal on Center Court last week and also crossed paths with Novak Djokovic there.
The 26-year-old Berrettini, who relies on big serves and big forehands, won two tuneup tournaments on the surface this month, going 9-0 at Stuttgart, Germany, and Queen’s Club in London.
