American third seed Jessica Pegula said her first-round Wimbledon exit was her “worst result of the year”, while Chinese fifth seed Zheng Qinwen is also out after a grass-court lesson from doubles champion Katerina Siniakova.
Pegula became the highest seed to fall at the tournament so far when she was beaten 6-2 6-3 by Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ranked 113 places below her at 116 in the world.
The 31-year-old had heavy strapping on her right knee but said that did not bother her as she was dismantled in just 58 minutes on Court Two.
“This is definitely probably the worst result I’ve had all year,” she said.
“I’ve been winning lots of matches. It’s just all about it having to come together for two weeks. Sometimes it doesn’t quite all align when you need it to.”
Less than three hours later she was followed out of the door by Olympic champion Zheng, who lost 7-5 4-6 6-1 to Siniakova, who is ranked 81st in singles but is the world’s leading doubles player.
Siniakova, who has won the Wimbledon women’s doubles title three times, showed her grass-court pedigree to ensure Zheng’s challenge ended at the first hurdle for the third year in a row. It was the Czech who also knocked her out at the same stage two years ago.
Meanwhile, Polish eighth seed Iga Swiatek advanced to the second round with a comprehensive 7-5 6-1 victory over Russia’s Polina Kudermetova.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek is aiming to go further than the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.