LONDON: Reigning champion Iga Swiatek recovered from a second-set blip to battle past Taylor Townsend 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in the first round of Wimbledon here on Tuesday.

Last year, Swiatek bounced back after losing her French Open crown by romping to a maiden Wimbledon title but the third seed was far from her best 12 months on against Townsend of the United States.

The Pole made 16 unforced errors in a poor second set, but managed to take a tense decider to set up a second-round meeting with former world number one Karolina Pliskova on Thursday.

Second seed Elena Rybakina, who could take the world-number-one ranking from Aryna Sabalenka next week, also had to dig deep to battle past 2025 French Open semi-finalist Lois Boisson of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion from Kazakhstan will next face Caty McNally of the US for a last-32 berth after the latter beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 7-5, 6-3.

American sixth seed Amanda Anisimova began her bid to go one better than last year, when she lost the final 6-0, 6-0 to Swiatek, cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 win on Tuesday against Lina Gjorcheska of North Macedonia.

Two-time semi-finalist and eighth seed Elina Svitolina bowed out at the first hurdle, beaten comfortably by fellow Ukrainian Daria Snigur 7-5, 6-2.

Italian 13th seed Jasmine Paolini, the 2024 Wimbledon finalist, beat Robin Montgomery of the US 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 and Sofia Kenin of the US beat Croatian Petra Marcinko 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

Madison Keys, the 26th seed, came back from an opening set down to beat Kayla Day 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in an all-American clash.

ZVEREV CLEARS FIRST HURDLE

In the men’s section, Alexander Zverev came through a tricky first-round test against Belgian youngster Alexander Blockx with a 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/0) victory in his first Grand Slam match since winning the French Open.

The German second seed, who took advantage of the shock early exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic to clinch his long-awaited maiden major title at Roland Garros, is hoping for a deep run at Wimbledon for the first time.

Zverev has never got past the last 16 in nine previous appearances at the All England Club.

US fourth seed Ben Shelton was dumped out by Finland’s Otto Virtanen, missing a match point before losing 11/9 in a fifth-set tie-break. Virtanen won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2, 7-6 (11/9) in a marathon match lasting four hours and 21 minutes.

The 23-year-old Shelton, an All England Club quarter-finalist last year, suffered his first opening-round defeat at a Grand Slam since the 2023 French Open. World number 140 Virtanen will face British wildcard Arthur Fery in the second round.

American sixth seed Taylor Fritz, who reached the semi-finals last year, eased past Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 while fifth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia also wasted little time in beating Roman Andres Burruchaga 7-6 (7/5), 6-1, 6-0.

Czech dark horse Jakub Mensik survived a huge scare as the 15th seed needed five sets to subdue British wildcard Toby Samuel in a fierce first-round fight at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old French Open semi-finalist looked out on his feet near the end of a gripping contest but had just enough in the tank to carve out a 5-7 6-3 6-3 3-6 7-6(7) victory.

Mensik is regarded as one of the rising forces in the sport and became the youngest Czech in the professional era to reach a Grand Slam semi-final with his run in Paris that was only stopped by eventual champion Zverev.

Late on Monday, French Open women’s champion Mirra Andreeva eased into the second round with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Poland’s Magda Linette.Russia’s Andreeva, seeded fifth, will face 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who outplayed Britain’s Hannah Klugman 6-1, 6-4 in a fascinating last-64 clash.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2026