Alize Cornet upset Bianca Andreescu for the second time in two weeks by beating the fifth-seeded Canadian 6-2, 6-1 in the first round at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Cornet, who also beat Andreescu in Berlin two weeks ago, broke the 2019 US Open champion five times and sealed the victory by chasing down a shot and hitting a lob that landed just inside the baseline on match point.
With Andreescu’s loss, No. 6 Serena Williams being forced to withdraw midmatch Tuesday with a leg injury and No. 10 Petra Kvitova falling to Sloane Stephens on Monday, this marks the second time at Wimbledon that three top-10 women’s seeds have lost in the first round, along with 2018, when four went out in their opening matches.
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The footing that knocked out Williams continued to be an issue Wednesday, as Andreescu, Novak Djokovic, John Isner and at least one ball kid were among those taking tumbles, but all avoided serious injury.
“I didn’t slip just once. I slipped like six times,” Andreescu said. “The courts are super slippery. I have only played here once before, but they weren’t like this at all. I spoke to a couple other players, and they said it’s not that normal. But this is something we can’t really control.”
Andreescu, who has battled injuries, committed 34 unforced errors to seven for Cornet.
“I tried to stay positive the whole match,” Andreescu said. “I tried to figure it out, how I can play her better. But honestly, she played really well.”
Bianca Andreescu said court conditions at Wimbledon remained challenging during her first-round loss to Alize Cornet. AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova cruised into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ana Bogdan.
The 16th-seeded Pavlyuchenkova took advantage of 16 unforced errors from Bogdan to win in under an hour. She reached her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros before losing in three sets to Barbora Krejcikova.
Camila Giorgi and 19th-seeded Karolina Muchova also advanced to the second round. They were among 27 first-round matches that had not been started or completed during the first two days because of rain delays that also created the slick conditions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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