Wimbledon PIX: Defending champ Vondrousova beaten in Round 1

IMAGES from Day 2 of the Wimbledon Championships, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Tuesday.

Defending champion Marketa Vondrousova was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday, the first female holder to fall at the opening hurdle since Steffi Graf 30 years ago.

Czech Vondrousova, who became the first unseeded woman to lift the title last year, earned a far less welcome accolade after a 6-4 6-2 defeat by Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

"Yeah, it just didn't go as planned today," a downcast Vondrousova said, adding that despite her best efforts the pressure of defending the title had got to her. "I feel like even if you don't want to think about it, you just think about it ... all the time here, I see posters here and everything, my name everywhere.

"Today I was really nervous since the start. I couldn't shake it off. Also she was playing good. I didn't have many chances to come back into the match or she didn't give me many free points. Yeah, credit to her. I'm going to come back stronger, I hope.

"It was an amazing feeling to go back on Centre Court. Now it's like mixed feelings. I love to be here. I would love to stay longer also. Yeah, today was really tough."

Ranked world number 83, Bouzas Maneiro had won only one tour-level match all year heading into Wimbledon, but secured her first win across all Grand Slams when she slapped a backhand down the line.

"It is one of the most important moments of my life," the Spaniard smiled as she soaked up the cheers. "I'm just ... I'm surprised with myself to be honest.

"I was just thinking about enjoying the moment and try to play Marketa. She’s one of the best players in the world. She won last year here. I had no pressure, enjoy the moment, enjoy the tournament and just trying to be free-playing and I did it.

"The atmosphere was so nice, so ... elegant ... it feels like I was at home, I don't know why," she added, explaining her lack of nerves on one of the sport's greatest stages.

The 21-year-old from Galicia hit the ball cleanly throughout an unremarkable Centre Court clash, but only really needed to keep it in play as errors flew from Vondrousova's racket with alarming regularity.

Swiatek downs Kenin

Iga Swiatek safely negotiated past a potential first-round banana skin by beating fellow Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-4.

The Polish top seed has yet to find her comfort zone on grass, having never reached a final on the sport's slickest surface, but any hopes of slowly finding her feet were dashed after the draw pitted her against the player who toppled Coco Gauff in the 2023 opening round.

Both players struggled with their serves during the early exchanges, with the first four games featuring nine break points and with both dropping serve.

Swiatek did not let that wobble stop her from taking a 3-1 lead and after a forehand crosscourt winner bagged her the first set, the four-time French Open champion sealed her 20th consecutive win on her first match point.

Pegula cruises past Krueger

Fifth seed Jessica Pegula made light work of fellow American Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-0 in the Wimbledon first round under gloomy skies on Tuesday.

Pegula, a quarter-finalist last year at the All England Club, broke in the opening game of the match before racing into a 4-0 lead in 10 minutes.

The 20-year-old Krueger did get on the scoreboard, using her six feet, one inch frame to great effect in her powerful serves. However, Pegula never looked seriously troubled against her 75th ranked opponent and sealed the first set with an ace.

The youngster was broken again in quick succession in the second set, and racked up 29 unforced errors in the match. Pegula, 30, ended Krueger's first appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon with an ace to complete a 49-minute win.

"I know Ashlyn pretty well and I know she has a very big game and I know she can kind of just start hitting whenever so my goal was to get the biggest lead possible so if that started to happen I had something to fall back on," Pegula said on court.

The 30-year-old won her first title on grass at last month's Berlin Open and performed well in Eastbourne to raise the prospect of going beyond the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam for the first time.

"It's taught me to, getting that bit of confidence on grass and winning a title on grass, maybe to be a bit more patient, not get so frustrated with some of the weird bounces that can happen," she added.

"So I think it helped a lot and I'm trying to use that confidence as much as I can coming into this week."

Jabeur romps into second round

Ons Jabeur blasted her way into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday evening with a 55-minute, 6-3, 6-1 demolition of Japan's Moyuka Uchijima.

The Tunisian 10th seed, runner-up for the last two years, made light work of her world 68th-ranked opponent, breaking her immediately to take a 3-0 lead before each held their serve for the rest of the first set.

Jabeur then cranked up the power a notch in the second set, while simultaneously shutting down the angles as she snuffed out Uchijima's game.

As the game drew to a close the Japanese player, making her first appearance in the main draw in south London, looked skyward a number of times in obvious frustration.

She fended off three match points but finally caved in on the fourth, another thumping Jabeur forehand winner to close out the match.

In a steamroller performance, Jabeur won every single one of her first-serve points and fired in 21 winners to her opponent's nine.

Jabeur next meets American Robin Montgomery, ranked 161 in the world, as she pursues her dream of a Grand Slam triumph.