Wimbledon, England — Zheng Qinwen became the second top five seed in the first round at Wimbledon on Tuesday when Olympic gold medalists fell to Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
The 22-year-old Chinese player is the fifth seed of the All-England club, and her loss came hours after third seeded Jessica Pegra was upset by Elisabetta Cocchialetto.
It was Zheng’s third first round exit at Wimbledon. Meanwhile, Siniakova will face four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Siniakova is a three-time doubles champion at The All England Club and won last year alongside Taylor Townsend. She has won 10 major doubles titles overall.
In other matches, Barbora Krejcikova had to face 56th place Alexandra Eala to avoid becoming the second Wimbledon women’s champion who would lose in the first round a year later.
The 17th seed Krejcikova scored 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on centre court.
She started slowly and made 19 forced errors in the first set, but she cleaned up the play, having 18 in the rest of the way, often leaning forward with fist fist and screams, celebrating the points that approached victory.
From the start of the opening era in 1968, the women’s champions lost in the first round at Wimbledon last year in 1994 Steffi Graf and Markat Vondrousova.
The 20-year-old left-hander Ira, who represents the Philippines, competed only twice in the Grand Slam tournament after losing in the first round at the French Open in May. She was looking for what was her fourth Top 20 victory in 2025 after kicking out Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiecsk at the Miami Open earlier this year.
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset 25th seeded Magdalena Fleck 6-3, 6-2 after learning she was in the main draw hours ago as a lucky loser.
Swiatek, the eighth seed, five-time Grand Slam champion, faced a tight opening set against Polina Kudermetova, but won 7-5, 6-1.
“I’m happy the game clicked on the second set. I’m happy that some fans came to see us today because it’s so hot,” Swiatek told the crowd after setting up a second meeting with American Caty McNally.
Russian teenager Mira Andreva made progress, with the seventh seed winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 over Maya Sheriff.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to the report.