TENNIS: Sinner and Sabalenka answer doubters, grim day for British hopes

LONDON - Defending men’s champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka both arrived at Wimbledon under scrutiny but responded with contrasting opening-round victories on Monday.

Italy’s Sinner, playing his first match since a shock second-round exit at the French Open, was pushed to the limit by Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic but prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 in a demanding five-set battle.

Sabalenka, who described leaving Paris in a “deep, dark place” after a heavy quarter-final defeat, rebounded in commanding fashion on Centre Court, defeating Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic 6-2, 6-3.

In the marquee night match, Novak Djokovic began his pursuit of an eighth Wimbledon title and a record-extending 25th Grand Slam crown with a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over China’s Wu Yibing.

While Sinner, the world number one and tournament favorite in the absence of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, advanced, several seeded players suffered early exits.

Eleventh seed Casper Ruud fell to big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(7), while 12th seed Andrey Rublev lost a dramatic five-set encounter to fellow Russian Roman Safiullin, going down 14-12 in a final-set tiebreak after missing two match points.

HOME HOPES STRUGGLE

It was a disappointing day for British players, who failed to record a single main-draw victory.

Jack Draper withdrew ahead of the tournament due to an arm injury, joining Emma Raducanu, who also pulled out on the eve of the event. In total, 10 British players were defeated on Monday, including British number one Cameron Norrie, seeded 26th, who lost in five sets to American qualifier Michael Zheng.

Court One was expected to host Raducanu but instead saw Britain’s Harriet Dart fall to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko after the schedule change.

Sinner acknowledged the difficulty of his opening test, having been stretched to three hours and 30 minutes in one of his longest Wimbledon matches.

“It was a little tight in the beginning, I didn’t play at my best, but I tried to get into it,” Sinner said. “I’m happy I turned it around because the third set was very tough to swallow.”

He added that his outfit was stained after a fall during the match.

“I’m actually surprised that they let me keep playing because my all-white outfit turned into a little red,” he said.

Djokovic also had to work hard against Wu, but the Serb capitalized on a costly overhead error to secure the decisive break in the fourth set.

“Playing on this surface, these kinds of matches are decided on a few points and a few shots,” Djokovic said. “Thankfully, I have the experience of the last 20-plus years on this court to help manage the situation.”

NEW GENERATION MAKES IMPACT

Elsewhere, two former U.S. Open champions met on Court One, where Daniil Medvedev overpowered Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, with the veteran struggling against the eighth seed’s pace and consistency.

Brazil’s Joao Fonseca impressed in a straight-sets win over Roberto Bautista Agut, 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-3, before heading off to watch Brazil’s World Cup success over Japan.

Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar also advanced on debut, defeating British wildcard Felix Gill 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, as the next generation made its mark on the opening day at Wimbledon. -Reporting by Martyn Herman, Shrivathsa Sridhar, Alan Baldwin and Clare Lovell; Editing by Alison Williams and Ed Osmond/Reuters