Fresh off a title in Bad Homburg and tipped for a deep run at Wimbledon, world number three Jessica Pegula suffered a shock first-round exit on Tuesday, dismantled 6-2, 6-3 by unheralded Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
In the second major upset of the day, Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen was beaten 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 by Czech Katerina Siniakova.
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova was tested by promising 20-year-old Filipina Alexandra Eala, but she found best form to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on her return to Centre Court after last year's surprise triumph.
"I mean, what the hell (kind of tennis) she played in the first set?," said Krejcikova, praising her opponent.
"She was smashing the ball and cleaning the lines, so wow, wow. She's going to be really good in a couple of years."
While Eala missed her chance to make history, Zeynep Sonmez became the first Turkish woman to reach the second round at the grasscourt Grand Slam when she battled past Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 7-6(5) 6-3.
Five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek faced a tight opening set against Polina Kudermetova but the eighth seed won 7-5, 6-1 while Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva advanced after a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mayar Sherif.
Victoria Mboko found out a few hours before she faced Magdalena Frech that she had entered the main draw as a lucky loser due to Anastasia Potapova's pullout and the Canadian teenager rode her luck to stun the 25th seed 6-3, 6-2.
It was a meek surrender from Pegula, who looked out of sorts from the outset on Court Two. She landed only half her first serves, struck just five winners and committed 24 unforced errors in a performance more tentative than tenacious.
"No, it wasn’t (good). It was terrible," Pegula said of her serve. "It’s so frustrating when something you’ve been working on so much doesn’t come and help you when you want it to, especially on grass."
The American had won 17 consecutive first-round matches at the Grand Slams, a run dating back to 2021.
"It’s really a bummer to lose," she said. "I’m upset that I wasn’t able to turn anything around. But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane. Kudos to her."
Cocciaretto, ranked 116th in the world, was rock-solid throughout, breaking the American four times and avenging her straight-sets loss to Pegula at Wimbledon two years ago. It was just the second top-10 win of the 23-year-old’s career, and richly earned.
"Playing on this court is a dream for me," she said, beaming.
Pegula tried to adjust to the Italian’s pace and variety but found no answers.
"She was forcing a lot of the errors… forcing me to try to change the pace and do different things," she said.
"The bonus is I can go prep for the hard courts, which seems to be my favourite surface anyways - and see if I can just make some more magic this summer.
"This is definitely the worst result I've had all year. I've been winning lots of matches. I feel like I'm playing good tennis. Sometimes it doesn't quite all align when you need it to."
Zheng's Wimbledon woes continue
Zheng powered her way to gold in Paris last year and was tipped for a strong run at the All England Club but doubles specialist Siniakova had too much grasscourt craft.
Siniakova, three-times women's doubles champion at the All England Club, took the opening set when Zheng netted a backhand.
Zheng, Australian Open runner-up in 2024, raised her game to level the match but could not carry the momentum into the deciding set and slumped to her third successive first-round defeat at Wimbledon.
Siniakova's victory meant she avoided three successive Wimbledon first-round losses and she will face Japan's four-times major winner Naomi Osaka in the second round.
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