By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer
LONDON (AP) — Coco Gauff became just the third woman in the Open era to lose in the first round at Wimbledon right after winning the championship at the French Open, eliminated 7-6 (3), 6-1 by unseeded Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine on Tuesday night.
The No. 2-ranked Gauff made mistake after mistake at No. 1 Court, finishing with just six winners and a total of 29 unforced errors that included nine double-faults. She joined another highly seeded American, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, in bowing out on Day 2 of the tournament.
“I was really on fire,” said Yastremska, who accumulated 16 winners. “Playing against Coco, it is something special.”
It was just a little more than three weeks ago that Gauff was celebrating her second Grand Slam title by getting past No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final on the red clay of Roland-Garros. The 21-year-old American also took home the trophy from the 2023 U.S. Open.
But even though Gauff’s big breakthrough came at the All England Club at age 15 in 2019, when she beat Venus Williams in her opening match and made it all the way to the fourth round, the grass-court tournament has proved to be her least-successful major.
It’s the only Slam where Gauff hasn’t made at least the semifinals.
Indeed, she has yet to get past the fourth round and now has been sent home in the first round twice in the past three years.
The transition from clay to grass has proven tough for most players, and the last woman to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season was Serena Williams a decade ago.
Still, since the Open era began in 1968, only Justine Henin in 2005 and Francesca Schiavone in 2010 went from holding the trophy in Paris to exiting immediately in London.
Gauff was never quite at her best Tuesday against Yastremska, who had lost all three of their previous matchups and currently is ranked 42nd. Yastremska’s best Grand Slam result was making it all the way to the semifinals on the Australian Open’s hard courts last year, although she entered this event with a record of only 10-11 in first-round matches at majors.
Gauff, by contrast, was 20-3 at that stage, including a loss to Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon in 2023.
Yastremska’s deepest run at Wimbledon was making the fourth round in 2019, although she did get to the final of the junior event in 2016.
She recently reached her first tournament final on grass, at a smaller event in Nottingham, which she said gave her confidence heading to the All England Club.
“I love playing on grass. I feel that this year we are kind of friends,” Yastremska said with a laugh. “I hope the road will continue for me here.”
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