WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — The 2024 edition of Wimbledon started on Monday, with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and past Grand Slam title winners Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu all set to play matches at Centre Court.
Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time Australian Open champion who was seeded third at the All England Club, withdrew on Monday because of an injured shoulder.
No. 9-seeded Maria Sakkari was among the early winners, beating McCartney Kessler 6-3, 6-1.
“We could name like 20, 25 girls that could win the tournament right now,” Sakkari said.
Alcaraz just won his third major championship at the French Open three weeks ago. He defeated Novak Djokovic in last year's final at Wimbledon. Alcaraz faces qualifier Mark Lajal of Estonia on Day 1 on the All England Club's grass courts.
Raducanu won the 2021 U.S. Open at age 18, but she has been dealing with various injuries since then. Her scheduled opponent — 22nd-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova — withdrew Monday morning because of illness. Alexandrova was replaced by Renata Zarazua, a so-called “lucky loser” from the qualifying tournament.
Gauff, who won the U.S. Open last September, closes out the day's schedule in the main stadium against Caroline Dolehide in an all-American matchup.
No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner is also on Monday's schedule, playing Yannick Hanfmann at No. 1 Court.
In early results, No. 8-seeded Casper Ruud beat Alex Bolt 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4. Unseeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov eliminated No. 19 Nicolas Jarry 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
