Vekic Knocks Off Stephens in Wimbledon Opener
Croatia’s Donna Vekic upset last year’s U.S. Open champion and recent French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens in the first-round of Wimbledon on Monday as she ousted the American 6-1, 6-3.
“I finally got through a match like that,” Vekic said afterwards. “It’s really important for me and my confidence. The last couple of times I played against top players I was playing good—it was a good match—but I would still lose. [My team] was always saying it’s gonna come, it’s gonna come—and I’m happy it was today.”
Vekic entered Wimbledon playing good tennis on grass having reached the Nottingham semifinals a couple of weeks ago. She carried that momentum onto center court at Wimbledon on Monday. She pounced all over Stephens’ serve, setting up 17 break points and converting on six of them.
In the second round, Vekic takes on Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson.
Venus Williams shook off a bad first set to book her spot in the next round as she defeated Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1.
“I really haven’t played her before. She played well,” Venus said afterwards. “There were moments where I could have played better, and was just playing better in those moments in the last two sets.”
The five-time champion draws Alexandra Dulgheru next. The Romanian won a three-set affair against Kristyna Pliskova.
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki got her Wimbledon campaign off to a good start with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Varvara Lepchenko in just 59 minutes.
The No. 2 seed will face off with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in the second round.
American Madison Keys looked impressive in her opener as she saw off Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-2 to advance. Keys, a former quarterfinalist, is now 5-0 all-time in Wimbledon first round matches.
“It’s always tough to play someone that you know pretty well, but also you have your first round nerves too so it’s a weird combination,” said Keys. “I’m just happy to be through.”
Keys takes on Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand next.
