Marketa Vondrousova joins Steffi Graf in unwanted piece of Wimbledon history

Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova joined Steffi Graf in the history books after she lost in straight sets to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to suffer a shock first-round exit.

Vondrousova was a surprise winner at the All England Club last year and returned to Centre Court on Tuesday to begin the defence of her crown, but struggled physically as she tasted 6-4 6-2 defeat inside 67 minutes.

It made Vondrousova only the second defending women’s Wimbledon champion to crash out in the first round after Graf did in 1994 to Lori McNeil.

Prior to her 2023 success, Vondrousova had only won one main-draw match in SW19 and arrived in the capital after an injury scare in Berlin two weeks ago.

World number six Vondrousova insisted ahead of the tournament she was fully fit, but she had three double-faults in her first service game as she was broken immediately.

Further breaks were exchanged between the duo, but Spaniard Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 83rd in the world, sealed the opener inside 40 minutes.

Vondrousova sent down another double-fault at the start of the second to be broken again and appeared to be growing frustrated with her ailing health.

It failed to distract Bouzas Maneiro though who continued to play her shots and the 21-year-old secured a memorable first grand slam victory with a wonderful backhand winner, which kissed the white chalk to the delight of Centre Court.

It was a different story for Vondrousova and she raced off the court after seeing her title defence end in just over an hour.

A disconsolate Vondrousova reflected: “It’s tough to go out defending the title. I was really nervous from the morning and everything.

“I think practice was fine. Yeah, today I was a bit scared because of my leg, too. But I don’t think that was the reason.

“I felt nervous from the start. She was also playing a good match. That was kind of tough, too.

“Overall it was very tough. It’s tough feelings also to go back, I feel like everybody just expects you to win maybe. That’s tough, too. I was happy to be back on the Centre Court. It just didn’t go as planned.”

Bouzas Maneiro basked in the glory of a career-best victory, saying in her on-court interview: “I’m really happy. This is one of the most important moments of my life, in my career here on this court, this is amazing.

“The atmosphere here, the tournament is the most beautiful tournament I ever played in my life. So, thank you so much to everyone who came here to watch.

“She’s one of the best players in the world. She won last year here. I had no pressure, enjoy the moment, enjoy the tournament and just trying to be free-playing and I did it.”

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina had no such problems easing into round two.

Rybakina, a winner at the All England Club in 2022, raced through with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse after 71 minutes on Court One.

That time was bettered by fifth seed Jessica Pegula after she wiped the floor with compatriot Ashlyn Krueger 6-2 6-0 inside 49 minutes.