Two years on from her remarkable introduction to the Championships as a 15-year-old qualifier, American teenager Coco Gauff made a successful return to the Wimbledon grass on Tuesday.
On another day that was split in two by a fairly lengthy rain delay, the 17-year-old was forced to fight hard by British wild card Fran Jones before going through 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 37 minutes.
The American, who beat Venus Williams en route to the fourth round in 2019, admitted afterwards she was apprehensive stepping on No.2 Court and is focusing on trying to learn from every match she plays on tour.
"I was just super nervous coming in,” Gauff said. “I’m happy I was able to come through with the win. It’s been a steady process, seeing the game better and figuring out how to perform in the pressure moments.
“Last week I was serving for the match [against Anastasija Sevastova] and I didn’t go through in Eastbourne and I recognised that feeling today and I made sure I did what I was supposed to do to come out on top.
The unsettled weather meant a number of matches were pushed over into Wednesday, but some notable names in the ladies’ draw were able to dodge the rain.
The Czech No.8 seed Karolina Pliskova beat Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Croat Donna Vekic, who has always been dangerous on grass.
Recent Roland-Garros singles and doubles champion Barbora Krejcikova beat young Dane Clara Tauson 6-3, 6-2 in 70 minutes in her first outing since that memorable fortnight in Paris.
A semi-finalist in the French capital herself, No.15 seed Maria Sakkari from Greece beat Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-1 in just 50 minutes, while the No.13 seed from Belgium Elise Mertens eased past Briton Harriet Dart for the loss of just four games.
The Birmingham champion from a few days ago, Tunisian No.21 seed Ons Jabeur, was too good for Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 6-1 to set up a second round meeting with Venus Williams.
Dutchwoman and No.17 seed Kiki Bertens waved goodbye to Wimbledon when her final visit to the Championships ended in a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. Bertens announced recently this will be her last year on tour.
Young American Sebastian Korda produced one of the men’s stories of the day away from the show courts as he beat Saturday’s Eastbourne champion Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in three and a half hours.
And the No.10 seed, Canadian Denis Shapovalov, was another to come through a thriller when he saw off German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
“It's a huge weight off my back,” Shapovalov said. “It's always difficult. Going in first round of a major, you don't know exactly how the courts are, especially here, because you can't really practise too much on it to know what kind of feelings you're going to have out there.”
In one of the more bizarre endings to a match, Germany’s Oscar Otte didn’t even realise he’d won his titanic tussle with fellow qualifier and Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech on No.3 Court.
Otte completed a marathon 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 13-12 victory when he took the deciding tie-break seven points to two - but was ready to keep going as his opponent pepared to shake hands, thinking the shootout required the winner to reach 10 points.
Once he'd realised his mistake he could start the celebrations and begin planning for a Centre Court second round appointment with two-time champion Andy Murray on Wednesday.
