Michael Zheng, who reached the Wimbledon boys final in 2022, had a triumphant return to the All England Lawn Tennis Club today, with the two-time NCAA singles champion outlasting the British No. 1 Cameron Norrie 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(4) in a four-hour battle on Court No. 2.
The other American to beat a seed today was also a former NCAA champion: University of Georgia’s Ethan Quinn, who beat No. 14 Luciano Darderi of Italy 7-6(7), 7-5, 6-2. With Darderi being more comfortable on clay, and Quinn in form after making first ATP final last week in Mallorca, the result wasn’t really an upset.
Two men’s first round matches did not finish due to darkness, with Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) leading wild card Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) of Great Britain 6-3, 7-6(5), 4-3 when play was suspended.
The lack of wins for British players Monday–they went 0-10–certainly didn’t help the mood in England, which was still coming to terms with the late withdrawals of Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper. Eight more, plus Pinnington Jones, are in action Tuesday, so better results on Day Two are likely.
Monday’s Wimbledon first round results of Americans:
Jessica Pegula[4] d. Dasha Vidmanova(CZE) 7-5, 6-3
Coco Gauff[7] d. Tamara Korpatsch(GER) 6-2, 6-1
Alycia Parks d. Alicia Dudeney[WC](GBR) 6-3, 6-3
McCartney Kessler d. Oleksandra Oliynykova(UKR) 6-0, 6-0
Nikola Bartunkova(CZE) d. Peyton Stearns 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Claire Liu[Q] d. Hanne Vandewinkel(BEL) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Iva Jovic[16] d. Jaqueline Cristian(ROU) 7-6(1), 6-0
Zeynep Sonmez(TUR) d. Ann Li[28] 7-5, 1-6, 6-4
Michael Zheng[Q] d. Cam Norrie[26](GBR) 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(4)
Brandon Nakashima[28] leads Jack Pinnington Jones[WC] 6-3, 7-6(5), 4-3, postponed darkness
Tommy Paul[21] d. Alexandre Muller(FRA) 6-1, 6-2, 6-1
Ignacio Buse[31](PER) d. Emilio Nava 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
Martin Damm d. Marco Trungelliti(ARG) 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 7-6(5)
Botic van De Zandschulp(NED) d. Aleks Kovacevic 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-0
Nuno Borges(POR) d. Tristan Boyer[Q] 6-3, 7-5, 7-5
Jenson Brooksby d. Aleks Vukic(AUS) 7-6(7), 6-1, 6-1
Ethan Quinn d. Luciano Darderi[14](ITA) 7-6(7), 7-5, 6-2
Learner Tien[16] d. Dalibor Svrcina(CZE) 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3
Taylor Townsend v Iga Swiatek[3](POL)
Serena Williams[WC] v Maya Joint(AUS)
Amanda Anisimova[6] v Lina Gjorcheska[Q](MKD)
Robin Montgomery[Q] v Jasmine Paolini[13](ITA)
Kayla Day[Q] v Madison Keys[26]
Caty McNally v Elena-Gabriela Ruse(ROU)
Sofia Kenin v Petra Marcinko(CRO)
Ashlyn Krueger[Q] v Donna Vekic[31](CRO)
Emma Navarro[23] v Paul Badosa(ESP)
Taylor Fritz[6] v Dusan Lajovic[LL](SRB)
Ben Shelton[4] v Otto Virtanen[Q](FIN)
Frances Tiafoe[17] v Terence Atmane(FRA)
Marcos Giron v Corentin Moutet(FRA)
Zachary Svajda v Pablo Llamas Ruiz[LL](ESP)
Patrick Kypson v Mackenzie McDonald[Q]
Alex Michelsen v Jacob Fearnley[WC](GBR)
No. 15 seed Janae Preston beat Fleur De Bresser of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-2; No. 16 seed Welles Newman defeated Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 and Melije Clarke defeated qualifier Michelle Khomich of Germany 7-6(2), 6-4.
Clarke faces unseeded Yihan Qu of China, with Preston playing No. 4 seed Nana Leme Da Silva of Brazil, and Newman taking on No. 2 Jana Kovackova of Czechia in a rematch of the 2023 Junior Orange Bowl girls 14s fina, which Kovacova won 6-3, 7-6(5).
Jordan Lee, who was the last direct acceptance, beat No. 15 seed Arnav Paparkar of India 6-3, 6-1 and will play top seed and Roland Garros champion Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil Tuesday.
Ryan Cozad defeated No. 13 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and will play the reigning Australian Open boys champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, the No. 4 seed.
No. 6 seed Michael Antonius faces wild card Vincent Fletcher of Great Britain after Antonius beat Dan Brand of Israel 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Andy Johnson, the No. 10 seed beat Connor Doig of South Africa 6-3, 6-4 and will face Mark Ceban of Great Britain, the British National 18s champion. Ceban defeated No. 5 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in today’s second round. No. 3 seed Keaton Hance, who beat Daniel Jade of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, will play Spain’s unseeded Tito Chavez next.
Qualifying was completed today, with Andrew Fenty(Michigan) and Ozan Baris(Michigan State) the two Americans advancing to the main draw, along with recent college stars DK Suresh(Wake Forest) of India, Jay Friend(Arizona) of Japan and Edward Winter(Pepperdine) of Australia.
Rei Sakamoto of Japan is the top seed and is defending his title, with Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada, his opponent in last year’s final, the No. 2 seed.
Wild cards were given to NC State’s Will Manning and Jules Leroux of France and JJ Wolf(Ohio State).
Timo Legout(Texas) of France is using a college Accelerator Program entry, and Jack Kennedy received a Next Gen Accelerator Program entry.
Kennedy, who is skipping the Wimbledon Junior Championships, defeated Kaichi Uchida of Japan in a first round match tonight 6-4, 6-4.