Sloane Stephens got the ball rolling for the US Wimbledon contenders on Wednesday when she sealed a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Rebecca Peterson to advance to the second round.
The 2017 US Open champion had to wait a day for her SW19 campaign to kick off, but her performance in the next round was not compromised.
Florida’s Stephens came through in straight sets on court 14 to set up a second-round matchup with No. 20 seed Donna Vekic on Thursday.
World number 9 Taylor Fritz, whose girlfriend Morgan Riddle, 25, also works at Wimbledon, finally finished his first-round marathon match on Monday.
He secured a 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over unseeded German Yannick Hanfmann before setting up a clash with Mikael Ymer.
Sloane Stephens advanced to the second round of Wimbledon after a 6-2, 6-3 victory
The American had to wait until Wednesday to get her Wimbledon campaign off the ground
Number 9 in the world Taylor Fritz finally finished his marathon race in the first round on Monday
The two-week grass court Grand Slam tournament is already catching up after rain delays.
Stephens was one of 10 players originally on Monday’s schedule who had not played a point on the third game of the year Grand Slam tournament till Wednesday.
Tenth seed Frances Tiafoe then defeated Yibing Wu 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4 after the Chinese tennis star reportedly collapsed during his Wimbledon opener.
Tenth seed Frances Tiafoe then defeated Yibing Wu 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday
Chinese tennis star Yibing Wu reportedly collapsed during his Wimbledon opener against Tiafoe after complaining of breathing difficulties
Wu, number 62 in the ATP world rankings, was defeated by Tiafoe in the opening set on a tiebreak and had just lost the first two games of the second set before complaining of breathing difficulties.
After being checked by medics on court, the 23-year-old was taken to the dressing room for a three-minute first time-out, which was eventually extended to 15 minutes.
And according to ESPN, via The suncame the extended break after Wu passed out while back in the locker room.
Fortunately, he appeared to make a full recovery in that time, meaning he was able to return to court shortly afterwards and continue the match.
A host of other Americans also advanced to the second round, including 25th seed Madison Keys, who beat home qualifier Sonay Kartal in straight sets (6-0 6-3), and Tommy Paul – the No. 16 seed – who beat Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan (7-5 6-3 6-1).
Madison Keys defeated British qualifier Sonay Kartal in straight sets (6-0 6-3) on Wednesday.
Ben Shelton, the 20-year-old from Atlanta, needed five sets to beat Taro Daniel from Japan
None of Marcos Giron, Madison Brengle or Danielle Collins dropped a set heading into the second round. Giron, the world number 65, beat Hugo Dellien of Bolivia 7-6 6-4 6-4, while Brengle won 6-3 6-1 against Sara Errani of Italy and Collins defeated Julia Grabher of Austria 6- 4 6-4.
It was less easy for 32nd seed Ben Shelton, the 20-year-old from Atlanta who took five sets to defeat Japan’s Taro Daniel. Shelton eventually triumphed 6-4 6-3 3-6 4-6 6-3 in just over three hours.
Chris Eubanks, another Atlanta native, joined his compatriots in the second round after a 4-6 7-5 7-5 6-3 victory over Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
There were defeats for Sebastian Korda, the 22nd seed, who was defeated in four sets on Wednesday by Jiri Vesely (7-6 4-6 6-2 6-3) and a trio of American women.
Bernarda Pera, seeded No. 27, lost in three sets (7-6 3-6 3-6) to Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova, while 33-year-old Alison Riske-Amritraj was defeated 6-3 6-3 by the in New York native Spaniard Paula Badosa and Emma Navarro lost 6-4 6-3 to number 21, Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.