A first victory for Bianca Andreescu at Wimbledon

The Ontario native won her first game on the London turf against American Emina Bektas in two sets of 6-1 and 6-3.

Andreescu, now ranked 56th in the world, took advantage of the largesse of the 224th racket in the world by registering five breaks in 10 occasions.

She also managed 28 winning strokes against only 9 unforced errors, unlike the 11 winning strokes and 13 unforced errors of her opponent.

The 22-year-old Canadian will need to find her rhythm on serve if she wants to continue her run in the main draw. She was not able to put more than 52% of her first balls in play. Her success rate was exceptional, however, with 91% success in such circumstances.

She gave only one break chance to Bektas, who converted her.

This first victory confirms the good form of the moment of the Ontarian who lost in the final of the tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany, last week.

The 22-year-old will face 17th-seeded Kazakh Elena Rybakina in the second round.

Serena Williams surrenders

After a year without playing a singles tournament, Serena Williams missed her return to the circuit at 40. The American was beaten by the French Harmony Tan in three sets of 7-5, 1-6 and 7-6 (10/7), in the first round, in 3 h 11 min.

Seven-time champion of the major grass tournament and former undisputed queen, the youngest of the Williams sisters, down to 1204th in the world, had received an invitation to enter the main draw.

In 2021, she left center court during her match because of a thigh injury. Back on the same ground, she went after a disjointed match at the end of which she lowered her flag.

Not always well positioned, even a little lost on the court, not knowing whether to move forward or backward, not always sure of herself or her shots, she was unable to impose her game over the length of the match if powerful and intimidating which has been his strength.

She gave a lot of screams to try to evacuate the obviously enormous pressure which weighed on her shoulders, but there was too much rubbish in her game: 54 unforced errors against 28 for her opponent.

She resorted to intimidation at times, with particularly theatrical displays on a few key points, like the one that gave her the break and the chance to serve for the game in the third set. But in vain.

His 24-year-old opponent made him run as much as possible, forwards, backwards, sideways. Visibly physically short, Williams finished the duel exhausted, while the Frenchwoman, who was taking part in her first London tournament, simply couldn’t believe it.

” I’m so moved I can’t find the words… She’s a superstar, I’ve watched her so many times on TV that for my first Wimbledon, it’s… wow! »

When I saw the draw, I was very scared. It’s Serena Williams, a legend, I was wondering how to play against her and I thought if, already, I won one or two games, it would be greatadds Tan.

Williams saved the first match point at 6-5 for Tan in the third set, before pushing the game to a super tiebreaker.

The American then quickly broke away 4-0 and seemed to be heading for victory, but she was unable to maintain her advantage and ended up losing.

Injured in a thigh in July 2021, Williams was forced to retire in the first round against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, ranked 100th in the world, while she was 8th in the WTA.

Williams returned to competition to everyone’s surprise last week in doubles at Eastbourne. She was associated with the Tunisian Ons Jabeur. The duo won their first two matches before withdrawing from the semi-finals due to a knee injury to Jabeur.

Iga Swiatek continues his winning streak

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek also made a successful entry into Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Despite a little lack of concentration, she dominated the Croatian Jana Fett, 252nd in the world, 6-0 and 6-3. She thus won a 36th victory in a row.

In the second round of the tournament, where she is the favorite even if she has never exceeded the round of 16 in two participations, the 21-year-old Polish will face the Dutch Lesley Pattinama, 138th in the WTA.

Since his second-round defeat in Dubai in February, Swiatek has not lost a single match, winning titles on hard courts in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami, then on clay in Stuttgart, Rome, Madrid and Roland-Garros.

She had not played since her second coronation in Paris. She gave up the Berlin tournament to rest her shoulder.