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Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., was upset in the first round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 to Argentina’s Mariano Navone.
The 27th seed double-faulted 11 times and won just 53 per cent of his second-serve points.
Navone, ranked No. 41 in the world, broke Shapovalov six times in the match.
It’s Shapovalov’s earliest exit at the All England Club since 2019.
Fellow Canadians Leylah Fernandez, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo remain in singles competition.
Fernandez, of Laval, Que., faces Laura Siegemund on Wednesday, while Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime meets Jan-Lennard Struff, and Diallo, also of Montreal, awaits the winner between No. 5 Taylor Fritz and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Sinner wins opener
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner got his Wimbledon campaign off to an ideal start by beating Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 in an all-Italian matchup on Tuesday.
The three-time Grand Slam champion, who lost a five-set French Open final to Carlos Alcaraz, is in search of his first Wimbledon title. He was a semifinalist at the All England Club in 2023.
“First matches are never easy so I’m very happy about my performance,” he said in his on-court interview. “It’s a new tournament, new chances, new challenges. You have one opponent at a time.”
Sinner will play Aleksandar Vukic of Australia in the second round.
Pegula loses in 1st round
Third-ranked Jessica Pegula thought she was done with first-round hiccups.
Then she faced Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who needed just 58 minutes to stun the American 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday.
It was the third-seeded Pegula’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam tournament in five years.
And it came days after Pegula won the the grass-court Bad Homburg Open in Germany on Saturday, beating Iga Swiatek in straight sets.
“This is definitely probably the worst result I’ve had all year,” she said.
Pegula, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 2023, hit only five winners and made 24 unforced errors.
“For this to happen today, it’s disappointing. I don’t know how else to put it,” she said. “I’m upset that I wasn’t able to turn anything around. But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane. Hats off to her. Kudos to her for playing at a high level that I couldn’t match it today.”
