World No. 1 Jannik Sinner stayed cool to reach the second round of Wimbledon while Alexander Zverev became the highest men's seed to fall in a brutal first round for top players.
Italian Lorenzo Musetti and Kazakh Alexander Bublik also crashed and burned on a sizzling Tuesday.
Third seed Zverev and France's Arthur Rinderknech were locked at one set apiece on Monday when play was stopped, but after the resumption on a sultry Centre Court the Frenchman ground out a 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 victory. It was Zverev's first opening round defeat at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2019 and leaves him still searching for a first major after 38 attempts.
Zverev's defeat means 12 of the 32 men's seeds have failed to reach the second round.
Sinner starts off well
A red-hot Sinner effortlessly eased through beating fellow Italian and close friend Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 in a victorious return to the Grand Slam stage after his epic French Open final defeat by Carlos Alcaraz last month.
"First round matches are never easy, so I'm very happy about today. Obviously, for Italian tennis, a bit unfortunate," Sinner told reporters.
"I know him quite well as a person. I tried to put away the friendship for a couple of hours. So it's all good."
Sinner's other friend Musetti, last year's semifinalist, was dumped out by Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili, who prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 on a muggy Court Two.
Wimbledon dark horse Alexander Bublik, seeded 28th, was also unable to avoid the exit door, as the Kazakh showman was dragged into battle by Spaniard Jaume Munar and beaten 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 to continue the exodus of seeded men's players.
Taylor Fritz let out a massive roar but it might as well have been a sigh of relief after the fifth-seeded American moved past big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-7(6), 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-4 in a match carried forward from Monday.
His American compatriot Tommy Paul took out Briton Johannus Monday with little fuss, the 13th seed cruising 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, but it was the end of the road for 30th seed Alex Michelsen who fell 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) to Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic.
The 23-year-old Musetti recovered from a slow start to level the match but 126th-ranked Basilashvili raised his game at the end of the third set, breaking serve at 5-6 by winning a stunning rally with a volley into the open court.
Musetti's resistance withered in a 23-minute fourth set as Basilashvili earned his first win in a Grand Slam since reaching the third round at Wimbledon in 2022.
It was the 33-year-old Basilashvili's first victory over a top-10 player at a Grand Slam.
