Wimbledon Doubles Pair Sinner and Sabalenka Prove Their Worth on Day One

Wimbledon First Round: Sinner and Sabalenka Secure Victories

Defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy and top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus advanced to the second round of Wimbledon with contrasting first-round victories on Monday. Sinner, who had been struggling with a shock collapse in his previous tournament, overcame Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3.

Sabalenka, who had left Paris in a difficult state after her quarterfinal loss, followed Sinner onto Centre Court and defeated Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic 6-2, 6-3. The win marked Sabalenka’s first match since the French Open, where she lost to Diana Shnaider.

Other seeded players who lost their matches included Norway’s Casper Ruud, who fell to Pole Hubert Hurkacz, and Russian Andrey Rublev, who was edged out by Roman Safiullin in a five-set battle. Maja Chwalinska, the surprise French Open runner-up, also suffered an early exit after injuring herself on match point.

In the women’s singles draw, Naomi Osaka of Japan impressed with her outfit and performance, beating Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 7-5. American fourth seed Jessica Pegula and newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva also secured victories, while Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic had a comfortable win over young wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic.

The day was marked by several withdrawals, including Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper, who both pulled out with injuries. British number one Cameron Norrie lost to American qualifier Michael Zheng in five sets.

Sinner’s victory came after he suffered an injury during his match against Kecmanovic, which raised questions about his durability in long matches. However, he answered those doubts by dominating the remainder of the match and equalling the Italian record for most Grand Slam match wins.

Source: Al Jazeera