Jessica Pegula

LONDON — Third-ranked Jessica Pegula thought she was done with first-round hiccups.

Then she faced Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who needed just 58 minutes to stun the American 6-2, 6-3 at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

It was the third-seeded Pegula’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam tournament in five years.

And it came days after Pegula won the grass-court Bad Homburg Open in Germany on Saturday, beating Iga Swiatek in straight sets.

“This is definitely probably the worst result I’ve had all year,” she said.

Pegula, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 2023, hit only five winners and made 24 unforced errors.

“For this to happen today, it’s disappointing. I don’t know how else to put it,” she said. “I’m upset that I wasn’t able to turn anything around. But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane. Hats off to her. Kudos to her for playing at a high level that I couldn’t match it today.”

Six of Pegula’s first seven appearances at majors ended in the first round — the last of those being at the French Open in 2020 when she was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka. 

She said she was able to “flip that mentality” to push into the second week of major tournaments — her best result being runner-up to Sabalenka at the U.S. Open last year.

Pegula couldn’t slow down Cocciaretto, though, as the Italian didn’t face a break point on her serve.

The 24-year-old Cocciaretto missed Wimbledon last year because she had pneumonia.

“I went to the hospital, and I was sick until the Olympic Games,” she said, adding that she later picked up a stomach virus that sidelined her for two months.

“I’m really grateful that now I can play, that now I’m in this big tournament, big stage. So yeah, I’m just enjoying it,” Cocciaretto said.

Pegula’s only other first-round loss at the All England Club was in her debut in 2019.

She has reached five singles finals this year — second only to top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka’s seven.

Her pursuit of her first Grand Slam title moves to Flushing Meadows in August.

“Bonus is I can go prep for the hard courts,” Pegula said, “which seems to be my favourite surface anyways, and see if I can just make some more magic this summer, I guess.”

Sinner advances

Meanwhile, top-ranked Jannik Sinner got his Wimbledon campaign off to an ideal start by beating Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 in an all-Italian matchup.

The three-time Grand Slam champion, who lost a five-set French Open final to Carlos Alcaraz, is in search of his first Wimbledon title. He was a semifinalist at the All England Club in 2023.

“First matches are never easy so I’m very happy about my performance,” he said in his on-court interview. “It’s a new tournament, new chances, new challenges. You have one opponent at a time.”

Sinner will play Aleksandar Vukic of Australia in the second round.

Olympic champion out

Zheng Qinwen became the second top-five seed after Pegula to lose in the first round at Wimbledon when the Olympic gold medallist fell to Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

It was Zheng’s third straight first-round exit at Wimbledon.

Siniakova is a three-time doubles champion at the All England Club, including winning last year alongside Taylor Townsend.

Siniakova has won 10 major doubles titles — seven with Barbora Krejcikova, two with Townsend, and one with Coco Gauff at last year’s French Open.

Krejcikova got her Wimbledon singles title defense off to a winning start Tuesday.

Siniakova will face four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the second round.