WIMBLEDON: After winning two straight Grand Slam titles, Naomi Osaka has now failed to reach the second week at the last two majors.

Osaka, who was ranked No 1 in the world until last week, lost to Yulia Putinseva 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 on Monday in the first round at Wimbledon.

The second-seeded Osaka won the US Open last year and the Australian Open this year, but she lost in the third round at the French Open and now the first round at the All England Club.

Osaka had 38 unforced errors on Centre Court, while Putinseva had only seven.

It was Osaka’s second loss to Putinseva on grass this season. The Japanese player lost to the 24-year-old Kazakh in Birmingham two weeks ago.

Earlier, last year’s Wimbledon men’s finalists both advanced to the second round on the opening day of this year’s tournament.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic was first on Centre Court, as is tradition at the All England Club. He beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round.

Djokovic started the match in a hole, with Kohlschreiber breaking in the top-seeded Serb’s opening service game. But the troubles ended there for Djokovic, who had lost to Kohlschreiber in Indian Wells on a hard court this year.

Djokovic, chasing a 16th career major, will face Denis Kudla of the United States for a place in the last 32.

Fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson, who lost to Djokovic in straight sets in last year’s final, moved into the second round by beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in only his third match since March.

Anderson will now play Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic who registered his first win at the tournament in seven years when he defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Stan Wawrinka, seeded 22nd, also advanced. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion, who has won each of the other three majors but never Wimbledon, defeated Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Wawrinka, who will next face tall American Reilly Opelka in the second round, has never been past the quarter-finals at the All England Club.

The 21-year-old Opelka, who is 6-foot-11, beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

But Sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev and seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas were both eliminated in the first round.

Zverev lost to Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5, while Tsitsipas was beaten by Thomas Fabbiano of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3.

Ivo Karlovic, the oldest man to compete in the singles event since Ken Rosewall in 1975, eased past Italy’s Andrea Arnaboldi 6-4 ,6-4, 7-6 (7-4). The 40-year-old fired 21 aces and 50 winners in the match.

Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime celebrated his country’s national day with his first Grand Slam main draw victory, beating compatriot Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

Unseeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez joined him in the next round with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Marcos Giron.

Roberto Bautista Agut also advanced with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk.

Simona Halep, a former No 1 on the women’s tour who is seeded seventh at Wimbledon, advanced despite some pain in her left knee and foot. The Romanian, who called for a trainer after winning the first set, trailed 5-2 in the second set before rallying to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 7-5.

Third-seeded Karolina Pliskova also advanced, beating Lin Zhu 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). She will next face Olympic champion Monica Puig.

Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova, a semi-finalist in 2017, caused the first big upset of the tournament when she put out 10th seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-2, 6-4 in just 70 minutes.

It was Sabalenka’s second successive loss in the first round.

French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova, who has not made it past the first round at Wimbledon in two previous attempts, was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by American Madison Brengle.

Madison Keys, seeded 17th, made short work of Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum winning 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round while Elina Svitolina handed Australia’s Daria Gavrilova a bagel en route to a 7-5, 6-0 victory.

Home hope Heather Watson was the first Briton through to the second round with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over American teenager Caty McNally.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019