MOSCOW, June 29 Former world No. 1 American Serena Williams failed to qualify in the second round of the Wimbledon tournament.
In the first round match, 40-year-old Williams lost to the Frenchwoman Harmony Tan with a score of 5:7, 6:1, 6:7 (7:10). The opponents spent 3 hours and 10 minutes on the court.
The match against Tang was the 23-time Grand Slam winner's first in singles since the summer of 2021. The organizers gave Williams, ranked 1204th in the ranking of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), a special invitation (wild card).
Williams became the winner of Wimbledon seven times. She has 98 wins in tournament matches. Only American Martina Navratilova won more matches — 120.
Results of other matches:
Elena Ostapenko (Latvia, 12) — Oceane Dodin (France) — 6:4 , 6:4;
Zhang Shuai (China, 33) — Misaki Doi (Japan) — 6:4, 6:0;
Barbora Kreychikova (Czech Republic, 13) — Marina Zanevskaya ( Belgium) — 7:6 (7:4), 6:3;
Corey Gauff (USA, 11) — Elena Gabriela Ruse (Romania) — 2:6, 6:3, 7:5;
Wang Qiang (China) — Belinda Bencic (Switzerland, 14) — 6:4 , 5:7, 6:2;
Ayla Tomlyanovich (Australia) — Jill Teichman (Switzerland, 18) — 6:2, 6:3;
Amanda Anisimova (USA, 20) — Yuan Yue (China) — 6:3, 6:4;
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic, 25) — Yasmin Paolini (Italy) — 2:6, 6:4, 6:2;
Sara Sorribes-Tormo (Spain, 32) — Christina McHale (USA) — 6:2, 6:1;
Magdalena Fresh (Poland) — Camila Giorgi (Italy, 21) — 7:6 (7:4), 6:1;
Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan, 17) — Coco Vandeweghe (USA) — 7:6 (7:2), 7:5;
Petra Martic (Croatia) — Shelby Rogers (USA, 30) — 6:2, 7:6 (7:5).
Wimbledon, held on grass courts, will end on July 10th. In April, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) refused to allow Russian and Belarusian tennis players to the tournament because of the situation in Ukraine. In response, in May, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) decided not to award ranking points to competitors.