Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Tuesday July 2, 2024 at 4:46 p.m.
Weakened by a hip injury, Marketa Vondrousova was eliminated in her first round at Wimbledon by Spain’s Bouzas Maneiro. However, former tournament winner Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula had no problems.
Unknown to the general public, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 83rd in the world, has just achieved a quasi-historic performance! The Spaniard has become the second player to eliminate the defending champion in the first round of Wimbledon, after the American Lori McNeil, who beat Steffi Graff in the first round in 1994. Facing Marketa Vondrousova, the surprise winner of the 2023 edition, Bouzas Maneiro won 6-4, 6-2 in 1h08 under the roof of Centre Court, thus offering herself the most beautiful victory of her career. It must be said that the Czech did not show up on the London grass in the best of shape, having been forced to retire twelve days ago in Berlin after slipping on the grass, which caused her to injure her right hip. Author of seven double faults, Vondrousova did not save any of the five break points that her opponent had. Bouzas Maneiro notably took her serve at 3-3 to pocket the first set, and at 1-1 and 4-2 to win the second. The young Spaniard thus advances to a Grand Slam round for the first time in her career, while Marketa Vondrousova will tumble down the rankings, to find herself, at best, world number 15 in two weeks.
Rybakina and Pegula roll
Her predecessor at Wimbledon, Elena Rybakina, had no trouble getting through this first round. The world number 4 defeated the number 152, the Romanian qualifier Elena Gabriela Ruse, by a score of 6-3, 6-1 in 1h09, under the roof of court number 1. Trailing 3-1 from the start, the Kazakh won five games in a row to win the first set. In the second, she started strongly by leading 4-0, then clinched victory on her second match point at 5-1. World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, winner of her first grass-court tournament in Berlin, was swift against her compatriot Ashlyn Krueger, whom she beat 6-2, 6-0 in 49 minutes. The American served five aces and did not have a single break point to defend.
