Wimbledon: Ons Jabeur and Anett Kontaveit safely into round two but Danielle Collins loses
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Ons Jabeur started her Wimbledon tournament with a win on the day she rose to a career-high number two in the world rankings
Wimbledon 2022 on the BBC |
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Venue: All England Club Dates: 27 June-10 July |
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. |
World number two Ons Jabeur comfortably progressed to the second round at Wimbledon with a straight-set victory over qualifier Mirjam Bjorklund.
The Tunisian third seed beat her Swedish opponent 6-1 6-3 to make the ideal start to the championships.
Jabeur had withdrawn from the Eastbourne International prior to Wimbledon with a knee injury.
But she showed no sign of struggling with the issue as she needed just 53 minutes to secure the win.
Second seed Anett Kontaveit and former champion Angelique Kerber were also among the winners on the first day at SW19, but seventh seed Danielle Collins is out.
Jabeur, who rose to a career-high second in the world rankings on Monday, reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year, seeing off Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Iga Swiatek before losing to Aryna Sabalenka.
She comes into this tournament in strong form, having won the German Open earlier this month.
"It is a great start for me and I want to go as far as I can in this tournament," Jabeur, 27, said.
"Today I achieved my highest ranking. It is really amazing to be here, back in Wimbledon on one of the surfaces I really like.
"One of the reasons I love to play here is the crowd. No matter what the ranking is they always support me.
"Last time I was here everyone was cheering for Venus [Williams] but by the end they were cheering for me a little bit."
Seventh seed Collins falls on first day
Danielle Collins reached the Australian Open final in January, where she lost to Ashleigh Barty
Australian Open runner-up Collins became the highest-ranked player in the women's draw to exit the Championship on the first day.
The American world number eight lost 5-7 6-4 6-4 to 66th-ranked Marie Bouzkova, with the Czech overturning a break deficit in the deciding set.
Beatriz Haddad Maia, who was considered one of the contenders for the title after her strong performance in the build-up to Wimbledon, also lost her opening match.
The Brazilian won the Nottingham Open and Birmingham Classic during her 12-match unbeaten streak but fell 6-4 4-6 6-2 to Slovenia's Kaja Juvan.
There were no such scares for Estonia's Kontaveit, who defeated Bernarda Pera of the United States 7-5 6-1 to advance.
Germany's Kerber was also in fine form, with the 2018 champion needing just 64 minutes to beat France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-0 7-5.
Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska enjoyed a dream Wimbledon debut as the 20-year-old overcame Czech world number 65 Katerina Siniakova 6-0 7-5 to reach the second round.
Chwalinska had been knocked out of the first round of qualifying at the tournament last year and then took an indefinite leave from tennis, revealing that she had been battling depression for two years., external
She returned after four months away from the sport before upsetting Coco Vandeweghe to qualify for her first Grand Slam main draw.