Wimbledon: China’s Wang Xinyu, Zhang Shuai progress; French Open finalist Chwalinska out
Just weeks after fairy tale run at Roland Garros, the Pole sustains injury and comes down to earth on grass courts of All England Club
French Open finalist Maja Chwalinska crashed to a shock Wimbledon first-round defeat against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew on Monday after suffering an injury on match point, while China’s highest-ranked women’s player, Wang Xinyu, progressed safely to the next round.
World No 39 Wang, who lost in the semi-finals of the Bad Homburg Open to Naomi Osaka last week, beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. She will face Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic in the next round.
Another Chinese player, world No 64 Zhang Shuai, also won through to the second round after defeating Bianca Andreescu of Canada in straight sets 7-6, 7-6.
Zhang will next face the winner of the tie between Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova and Anastasia Zakharova of Russia.
Just weeks after her fairy tale run as a qualifier at Roland Garros, Chwalinska was unable to recapture her clay-court magic on the grass of the All England Club.
The Polish 20th seed, beaten by Mirra Andreeva in the French Open final, took the first set against Sawangkaew, but crumbled over the final two sets as the world number 164 clinched a memorable 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.