Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur made a solid start to her bid to capture a maiden Grand Slam title as the world number six eased past unseeded Pole Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round.
Tunisia’s Jabeur has struggled to build momentum during an injury-hit season and her preparation for the grass court major was far from ideal with early losses in Berlin and Eastbourne, but the sixth seed showed her calibre against Frech.
“I always feel so great to come back here. Last year I had an amazing run and hopefully this year it will be a little bit better,” said Jabeur, who lost to Elena Rybakina in last year’s final.
“I walked into the locker room and there was Elena’s photo with the trophy so that didn’t help at all,” she joked.
“But it’s amazing to come back here, just the atmosphere, the grass is so beautiful and I love connecting with nature.”
After narrowly missing the opportunity to break the 70th-ranked Frech early with two wayward drop shots, Jabeur got her nose in front in the fifth game thanks to clean hitting and she raced through the opening set.
The 28-year-old moved with ease and displayed a stunning range of shots that included drops, lobs and scoops to overwhelm Frech and go 3-1 up in the next set.
“I’m just trying to enjoy my time, enjoy playing tennis, doing some cool drop shots and see what’s going to happen,” said Jabeur, who hit 33 winners but also made 29 unforced errors with her high-risk style.
“It reflects my character. I like to joke around a bit,” she said. “I hate routine… I like to entertain the crowd with cool shots, so maybe I’ll keep doing that.”
Frech grabbed a break against the run of play before drawing level but Jabeur, who needed three sets to overcome the 25-year-old at Indian Wells this year, ensured there would be no late drama under the Court One roof.
Jabeur restored her advantage as Frech sent a shot long and closed out the contest on serve to set up a meeting with either unseeded Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure or Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan.
Defending Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina came from a set down on Centre Court to beat American Shelby Rogers 4-6 6-1 6-2 in the first round.
Watched by record eight-times Wimbledon men’s champion Roger Federer in the royal box, the Kazakh looked to still be suffering from the illness that forced her out of the French Open last month when she was broken in the first game.
Rogers powered through the first set with Rybakina looking out of practice having pulled out of a warm-up tournament in Eastbourne due to a virus.
However, the third seed roared back in the second, showing the kind of strength and composure she used to claim her first Grand Slam title in London last year.
Top men’s seed Carlos Alcaraz opened his Wimbledon campaign in ruthless fashion by sending French veteran Jeremy Chardy into retirement with a 6-0 6-2 7-5 drubbing.
At about the same time as eight-times champion Roger Federer was receiving a rapturous reception as a Royal Box guest on Centre Court, Alcaraz showed why he is billed as the future of men’s tennis over on Court One.
Under the roof, the 20-year-old Alcaraz subjected the unfortunate Chardy to a high-profile pummelling, firing down ferocious serves and rasping forehands with frightening power.
US Open champion Alcaraz, who returned to the top of the ATP rankings after winning the Queen’s Club title on grass last week, blasted through the opening set in 20 minutes as Chardy struggled with a rash of double-faults.
When the Spaniard won the first two games of the second set it began to look ugly for the 36-year-old Chardy whose 56th and final Grand Slam tournament was turning into a horror show.
Chardy, the former world number 25 who reached the fourth round here in 2014 and boasts a win over Federer, finally got on the scoreboard with a service hold greeted by warm applause.
He even turned the match into a contest in the third set as the rifle-shot sound of Alcaraz’s ball-striking was temporarily muffled by rain hammering on the translucent roof.
Alcaraz trailed 4-2 after a sloppy service game but he was not in the mood for retirement gifts and buckled down again to hit back and finish off his opponent in a shade under two hours, sealing victory with a 10th ace.
Tougher tests will come for Alcaraz with the likes of Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur lurking in his section of the draw.
But they way he began on Tuesday augurs well for his prospects of going very deep.
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