Coco Gauff Ousted In 1st Round of Wimbledon By Sofia Kenin

There will be no deep run for Coco Gauff at Wimbledon.

The No. 7 seed was upset by fellow American Sofia Kenin 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round on Monday.

It was the 10th Top-10 win for Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion who missed significant time in 2021 and 2022 due to injuries and had to come through qualifying to reach the main draw.

“I’m super happy, Coco played a tough match, I knew I needed to play my best in order to win,” Kenin said on court.

Kenin reached a career-high of No. 4 after winning the 2020 Australian Open, but was hampered by ankle injuries in recent years.

“It’s tough when you’re just on the couch and you got a Grade-3 tear in the ankles,” she said in April. “So, watching everyone compete, of course you wanna be there and coming back was obviously tough. But I was just used to playing around. Not really training obviously.”

In May, Kenin scored a straight-sets win over world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka at the Italian Open before losing in the fourth round. She is ranked 128th in the world, but was confident coming into Wimbledon.

“This means a lot, I had to go through quallies and I battled out there and I just took this match as any other match,” she said. “I knew Coco had a great season, great year, so I’m just super proud of myself.”

Gauff hit 12 aces in the match but also double-faulted five times. She converted on 2-of-6 break points while Kenin broke her on 4-of-10 chances.

The key game came with Kenin serving to consolidate her 2-1 lead in the third set. In the longest game of the set, Kenin saved three break points to hold her serve. Gauff’s best chance to break came on her third break point. With an opportunity lined up for a backhand pass, Gauff misjudged her distance and lunged at the ball, giving Kenin a chance to put away an easy high volley.

Kenin earned an insurance break at 5-2 and served out the win after 2 hours and 3 minutes. She finished with 18 winners to 22 unforced errors. Gauff finished with 33 winners and 33 unforced errors.

“I played just point by point,” Kenin said. “Don’t get over-anxious, super-excited. Just try to stick to my plan. I’m super happy that I finished before dark because I didn’t really feel like finishing tomorrow, to be honest.”

Gauff is the second highest-ranked American woman after No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula, who advanced in there sets over fellow American Lauren Davis, 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-3. Gauff recently split with her coach, Diego Moyano for “personal reasons” and is now working with Spanish coach Pere Riba.

“She’s not a flash in the pan,” 18-time Grand Slam champion Chrissie Evert said ahead of the tournament on an ESPN conference call. “She’s just going gradually on her path in a slower way. I think that’s going to benefit her in the long run.

“When I see her now compared to 15 years old, at 15 we saw the skill set. She had every shot in the book. She already had a very good grass court game where she was comfortable moving, she had power, she knew how to volley. Now she’s been No. 1 in the world in doubles. Her volley is superb. I think she’s gotten her serve under control. That was always a little bit of a niggly thing.

She added: “She’s going to win a Grand Slam. I mean, she’s so young still, it’s going to happen for her eventually.”