American 15-year-old Cori Gauff stole the show on the opening
day of Wimbledon with a debut victory over five-time champion and her
inspiration Venus Williams.
Gauff, the youngest
woman ever to survive the qualifying tournament, played like a seasoned
performer as she clinically beat the 39-year-old great 6-4 6-4 to earn a
standing ovation from an enchanted Court One crowd.
"I wouldn't say I didn't expect to win the match. I knew that I was
going to go out there and play the way I play," Gauff, who claimed victory
on her fourth match point, told reporters.
"I wasn't surprised that I won. I mean, I was just overwhelmed at the
end."
Her victory put everything else in the shade on an opening day full of
shocks in both draws.
World number two and second seed Naomi Osaka lost 7-6(4) 6-2 to dangerous
Kazakh Yulia Putintseva who had also got the better of her in their recent
match in Birmingham -- a defeat that effectively cost Osaka the number one
ranking.
U.S. Open and Australian Open champion Osaka appeared close to tears when
she spoke to the media later.
"Can I leave? I feel like I'm about to cry," the Japanese
21-year-old said.
French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova, the 16th seed, also bowed out
but former world number ones Karolina Pliskova, Caroline Wozniacki, Simona
Halep and Victoria Azarenka all made it safely through to the second round.