Belarus second seed Aryna Sabalenka had the honour of being the first winner at Wimbledon in two years when she downed Romanian qualifier M...
Belarus second seed Aryna Sabalenka had the honour of being the first winner at Wimbledon in two years when she downed Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-4 under the roof of Court One while former US Open champion Sloane Stephens knocked out Czech 10th seed Petra Kvitova, the 2011 and 2014 champion, 6-3, 6-4 in the biggest upset of the women’s draw on the first day.
Sabalenka fired 48 winners past Niculescu in what was only her second main-draw win at Wimbledon.
“I was nervous a little bit because I haven’t played on the show courts at Wimbledon,” said Sabalenka who has yet to make the last-eight of a major.
Later, seventh seed Iga Swiatek passed the Hsieh Su-Wei test, beating her 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes.
Garbine Muguruza, the 2017 winner, needed just under an hour to see off France’s Fiona Ferro 6-0, 6-1.
Another Grand Slam champion, Sofia Kenin, also advanced, with the fourth seed getting past Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu, 6-4, 6-2,
Results
First round
Sloane Stephens (USA) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x10) 6-3, 6-4
Lauren Davis (USA) bt Jodie Burrage (GBR) 6-2, 6-1
Madison Keys (USA x23) bt Katie Swan (GBR) 6-3, 6-4
Viktorija Golubic (SUI) bt Veronika Kudermetova (RUS x29) 3-6, 6-1, 11-9
Danielle Collins (USA) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Sofia Kenin...
