Coco Gauff exits Wimbledon at first hurdle after defeat to Sofia Kenin
By Jonathan Veal, PA
Coco Gauff was dumped out of Wimbledon by her fellow American Sofia Kenin in a bruising contest on Court One.
The seventh seed, who made her big breakthrough in SW19 when she got to the fourth round as a 15-year-old in 2019, was a strong contender to challenge for the title this year but was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-2.
This was arguably Kenin’s best performance since she won the Australian Open in 2020 as she was able to out-hit her powerful opponent to incredibly register her first victory in a grand slam match since 2021.
There is a strong rivalry between these two and they went toe-to-toe over two hours and three minutes to leave the crowd enthralled.
An early break for Kenin, who had to come through qualification, was enough for her to take the first set as she both soaked up Gauff’s power and delivered some fine hitting of her own.
Gauff, playing on the court where she famously beat Venus Williams four years ago, hit back and crucially broke at 5-4 in the second set.
She would have been favourite to go on and win it but Kenin was resilient, getting an early break in the decider and then crucially adding a second at 4-2.
There were no problems for her serving it out as she claimed a memorable victory and a place in the second round.
She said in her on-court interview: “I am just super happy, Coco played a tough match, I knew I needed to play my best to win.
“I just tried to stick to my plan and I am just super happy I won before it got dark because I didn’t really feel like finishing it tomorrow to be honest.
“This means a lot, I had to go through qualies, I battled out there. I took this as just another match. I know Coco has had a great year so I am just super proud of myself.”
Gauff said that Kenin’s victory was more as a result of what was happening on her own side of the net.
“She had nothing to lose today,” the 19-year-old said. “Obviously she won a grand slam, but she’s in a tough spot in her career.
“So I knew coming in she would play with a lot of motivation. It was all about how I would play today and how I would take care of my end of the court.
“I did in certain moments, but obviously not enough.
“A lot of the points she won, I believe, I didn’t look at the stats or anything, were a lot off of unforced errors that I made.
“I think I didn’t really put too much pressure on her. I felt like she could make a ball on the court, didn’t have to be as good, and I wouldn’t do much with it. That’s what happened.”
