Carlos Alcaraz has made a winning start to his Wimbledon title defence, defeating qualifier Mark Lajal in a competitive contest.
Opening the 2024 tournament on Centre Court, the Spaniard was broken early in each of the first two sets, but ultimately progressed 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-2.
Alcaraz was more dominant in the third set, not offering up a single break-point opportunity to Estonian qualifier Lajal, who can nonetheless reflect on a decent showing on the big stage.
French Open champion Alcaraz, looking to become the youngest player in the Open Era to win Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, will play Aleksandar Vukic or Sebastian Ofner in round two.
Elsewhere on Monday, eighth seed Casper Ruud and 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov both made comfortable starts to the tournament with straight-sets wins over Alex Bolt and Dusan Lajovic respectively.
Denis Shapovalov is also through, with the Canadian knocking out 19th seed Nicolas Jarry in a 6-1 7-5 6-4 triumph.
Frances Tiafoe almost joined Jarry as a seed to crash out on day one, but the American fought back from two sets down to defeat Matteo Arnaldi in five. That dramatic win saw him tee up a round-two clash with Borna Coric.
There was more American success when Brandon Nakashima earned a straight-sets victory over 18th seed Sebastian Baez. He won 6-2 6-3 6-4 and will face Australian Jordan Thompson next.
Data Debrief: Alcaraz up and running
Alcaraz did not have ideal preparation for Wimbledon after losing to Jack Draper in the last 16 at Queen's.
He will therefore be pleased to have got two hours and 23 minutes of competitive court time under his belt against Lajal without his progress ever really looking like it was in jeopardy.
Alcaraz fired 44 winners and lost just nine of the 56 points played on his first serve. He was also adept at the net, winning 26 of his 33 points to make it a smooth start.
He is now just the seventh player in the Open Era, and the first since compatriot Rafael Nadal, to win all of his first 14 first-round matches in grand slam tournaments.
Wimbledon: Sinner ousts fellow Italian Berrettini to battle into third round
Jannik Sinner battled his way into the Wimbledon third round after overcoming Matteo Berrettini in an all-Italian classic on Wednesday.
Centre Court was treated to a hard-fought spectacle between the pair as the world number one triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (7-4).
The victory marked somewhat of a changing of the guard between the Italian duo, with Sinner rising to the top after a fine year that has also brought Australian Open glory.
Berrettini is no stranger to the SW19 stage, reaching the final of the grass-court major in 2021 and taking the first set before falling to Novak Djokovic, and proved a tough opponent for Sinner in an enthralling clash.
The 14-time ATP Tour champion struggled to assert his dominance early on, failing to snatch a set point in the first before eventually triumphing in a tie-breaker with a thumping backhand.
Sinner repeated the same dose in the second set, trading breaks to leave the clash level at 4-4 before the top seed's forehand exposed Berrettini in another tie-break decider.
Berrettini responded by breaking twice to take a 4-1 lead in the third, though, striking back to halve the arrears and offering his countryman a stark reminder of his quality on this surface.
The pair once again exchanged a break apiece in the fourth set before Sinner squandered a glorious match-point chance when 6-5 ahead.
Yet, as was the case in the first two sets, Berrettini skewed a forehand into the net as Sinner sealed victory on his third match point with another tie-break success, just before the curfew at Wimbledon.
Data Debrief: Super Sinner downs another Italian
Sinner, who reached the semi-finals at this tournament last year, is now 14-0 against fellow Italians.
The 22-year-old is just the third player in the Open Era to win his first 14 ATP matches against compatriots, after Australia's Bob Hewitt and Argentina's Guillermo Vilas.
Sinner hit 32 winners and committed 25 unforced errors en route to his 40th tour-level win of the season, teeing up a third-round meeting with Miomir Kecmanovic, who overcame Tallon Griekspoor.
Wimbledon: Raducanu revels in 'once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity to partner Murray
Emma Raducanu simply could not refuse a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to partner her "hero" Andy Murray in the Wimbledon mixed doubles.
Murray pulled out of the men's singles draw on Tuesday after having minor surgery on a troublesome back issue, but confirmed he would partner brother Jamie for the doubles on the male side of the draw.
The two-time Wimbledon singles champion will be in action in another competition, too, after the tournament granted Raducanu and Murray a wild-card entry to the mixed doubles draw.
Speaking after sweeping aside Elise Mertens 6-2 6-2 in the women's singles second round on Wednesday, Raducanu revelled in her chance to play with Murray.
"My doubles record isn't exactly the longest, or the most vast, but I couldn't say no," Raducanu said after her victory over Mertens. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"It's been a dream of mine since I was a young girl, since watching the Olympics. Andy's a hero to all of us.
"So for me, it's a real gift and it's a real honour that he asked me and it's a moment that I could never say no to.
"And I'm just super excited to be on the mixed doubles court and hopefully learn a thing or two about coming to the net or something!"
Murray suggested there has always been a desire to partner Raducanu, with two of the biggest names in British tennis now joining forces.
"We'd spoken about it during the COVID year but obviously both of us were doing quite well in the singles and it didn't happen," Murray said after his practice session at the All England Club.
"Last night I messaged her coach and asked if he thought it might be something she'd be up for doing.
"He said it was worth asking, so I did. It was quite late yesterday evening when I sent the message, it would have been after 9 p.m. so I was a bit worried she might have been in bed.
"But I got a quick reply. She said: 'Yeah, let's do it.' That was it."
A tough test awaits for the newly formed pair, however, after being drawn to face Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai in the first round.
Arevalo secured French Open men's doubles glory for the second time last month, while Zhang is a two-time major champion in the same format.
Wimbledon: Ruud suffers second-round exit after veteran Fognini masterclass
Casper Ruud suffered a surprise second-round exit at Wimbledon on Wednesday as another seed was eliminated early on at the grass-court major.
The eighth seed was outsmarted on No.2 Court as Fabio Fognini scored a 6-4 7-5 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 win to send Ruud home from the All England Club.
World number 94 Fognini cut a calm figure throughout, manipulating his opponent from the baseline before snapping past Ruud with ease at regular intervals.
The victory saw Fognini through to his seventh third-round appearance in 14 attempts at Wimbledon, where he next faces Robert Bautista Agut after the Spaniard downed Lorenzo Sonego on the same day.
"Maybe 14 is the lucky one," Fognini said during his on-court interview. "I was 5-2 up and the match was almost done but then at 5-4 too many things were coming into my head.
"But this is why I love and hate this sport. In the end he's top 10 and I'm 37 and today was a good present for me."
Ruud joined sixth seed Andrey Rublev as a surprise early elimination, and Tommy Paul was fortunate to escape a similar upset on No.3 Court.
The 12th-seed American moved into the third round by overcoming Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 4-6 6-3 5-7 7-5 6-4.
Paul will face Alexander Bublik in his next outing.
Data Debrief: Fognini proves age is no issue
Fognini, aged 37 years and 40 days, is the third player aged 37 or older to defeat an ATP top-10 player in a men's singles major event.
The Italian joined Ken Rosewall and Roger Federer as the only players to achieve the feat as Ruud's struggles on grass continued.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
