Rain is gone at Wimbledon, but so is French Open champ
LONDON — After two days filled with rain, the sun actually made an appearance at Wimbledon on Thursday, allowing for plenty of play all around the grounds, a chance to finally conclude the first round — and several surprises, the biggest of which was French Open champion Garbine Muguruza’s exit.
No. 2 Muguruza, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the All England Club a year ago and won her first Grand Slam title less than a month ago, was one of 18 seeded players who lost on Day 4, including 11 women.
Admittedly lethargic, and displaying none of the verve or confident shotmaking she’s known for, Muguruza lasted less than an hour in the second round Thursday, beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova, a qualifier ranked 124th.
“My energy was not really there,” Muguruza said. “I was trying, but (it) didn’t work at all.”
That same sentiment might have been expressed by some of the other players who joined her on the way out of the tournament, including No. 31 Kristina Mladenovic in a weather-delayed first-round match, and No. 7 Belinda Bencic, No. 14 Sam Stosur, No. 15 Karolina Pliskova, No. 16 Johanna Konta, No. 17 Elina Svitolina, No. 20 Sara Errani, No. 22 Jelena Jankovic, No. 30 Caroline Garcia and No. 32 Andrea Petkovic, all in second-round matches.
That group includes a Grand Slam champion (Stosur), major finalists (Errani, Jankovic), the first seeded British woman at Wimbledon since 1984 (Konta, eliminated by 2014 runner-up Eugenie Bouchard) and a top-10 player considered a possible future star of the sport (Bencic, who retired because of a left wrist injury while trailing American qualifier Julia Boserup).
There was nearly another big name gone. But No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up, saved three match points, then took advantage when her opponent, 18-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia, twisted her right ankle by accidentally stepping on a tennis ball during a point. That happened at 7-all in the third set and, although Konjuh continued to play after a medical timeout, Radwanska was able to finish off a 6-2, 4-6, 9-7 victory.
The seven seeded men who lost, all in the second round, were No. 8 Dominic Thiem, No. 13 David Ferrer, No. 16 Gilles Simon, No. 23 Ivo Karlovic, No. 25 Viktor Troicki — who launched an epic tirade at the chair umpire because of a call two points from the end of his five-set defeat — No. 26 Benoit Paire and No. 30 Alexandr Dolgopolov.