Wimbledon: A Record Tying 23 Seeded Lost In The Opening Round

Three Time Grand Slam finalist and No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev was outplayed in a first-round loss at Wimbledon, going down in five sets to 72nd-ranked Arthur Rinderknech. Rinderknech came into the match with a 1-4 career record at the All England Club and had never made it past the third round in 18 major appearances.

No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last year and at the French Open last month, was sent packing on Tuesday (July 1, 2025) by Nikoloz Basilashvili. Basilashvili, a qualifier ranked 126th, has only made it to the fourth round once in his 31 previous Grand Slam appearances.

The most notably, when night fell, there was No. 2 Coco Gauff, who went from being the champion at Roland-Garros to a swift exit at Wimbledon, losing 7-6 (3), 6-1 to Dayana Yastremska.

The upsets just kept coming on Day 2 at the grass court major, with 23 seeds. 13 men and 10 women not making it to the second round. This ties the record for the most seeds to exit at any Grand Slam since they started having 32 seeds in each singles draw back in 2001.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula was also among those who got knocked out. The American, who was the runner-up at last year’s U.S. Open and had just won a grass-court title in Germany by beating Iga Swiatek in the final, didn’t really put up much of a fight against 116th ranked Elisabetta Cocciaretto, losing 6-2, 6-3 in under an hour.

On Tuesday, two other major finalists, No. 5 Zheng Qinwen and No. 15 Karolina Muchova, also got eliminated, along with No. 26 Marta Kostyuk and No. 25 Magdalena Frech. Frech’s opponent, 18 year old Canadian Victoria Mboko, had lost in qualifying last week and only made it into the tournament when another player, Anastasia Potapova, pulled out due to a hip injury.

Nothing was as unexpected as Rinderknech’s success. Sure, Yastremska made it to the semifinals at last year’s Australian Open, but this was something else.

“What a moment. So many feelings”, said Rinderknech, a 29-year-old from France, after he wrapped up his 7-6 (3), 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over Zverev in a match that lasted 4 hours and 40 minutes and was paused Monday night with one set each.

“I honestly don’t even know where to begin”. He finished it off with a backhand winner and then collapsed onto his stomach, face down, on Centre Court.

Rinderknech secured his victory with some amazing serving, hitting 25 aces and saving all nine break points he encountered. He took advantage of three break opportunities against Zverev and won 44 out of 55 points when he approached the net.

“This is my first top-five victory, in the largest stadium globally”, Rinderknech expressed.

“My legs are still trembling. I’m just thrilled that the match is over”.

What else went down at Wimbledon on Tuesday? Two-time champion Petra Kvitova played her last match at the All England Club, losing 6-3, 6-1 to No. 10 Emma Navarro.

“This venue has the most amazing memories I could ever ask for”, said the 35-year-old Kvitova, who plans to retire after the U.S. Open.

“I never imagined winning Wimbledon, yet here I am with two titles”. Defending women’s champion Barbora Krejcikova and men’s No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz both had to rally to secure their wins, while No. 1 Jannik Sinner cruised through a straight-set victory without any issues. Meanwhile, 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic faced a stomach problem during his match, but still managed to win against Alexandre Muller with scores of 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2 at night.

Match Details

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka kicks off the Centre Court action against Marie Bouzkova at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET). Following that, two-time defending men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz will take on Oliver Tarvet, a player ranked 733rd from the University of San Diego in Britain. Lastly, 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will face off against 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Wimbledon: A Record Tying 23 Seeded Lost In The Opening Round

Share this:

Like this:

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Quote Of The Week

Subscribe My Channel

Discover more from Connect2ConnectOnline