Victoria Mboko wasn’t even supposed to be in the draw, and then she delivered a Canada Day stunner at Wimbledon.
The 18-year-old from Toronto was added to the tournament just three hours before her match after Anastasia Potapova withdrew.
She made the most of it, upsetting 25th-seeded Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-3, 6-2 in Tuesday’s first round.
Frech entered the tournament ranked No. 24 in the world, while Mboko sits at No. 97.
Mboko had originally fallen short of qualifying with a three-set loss to Australia’s Priscilla Hon in her final match last Thursday.
WATCH | Mboko pulls off 1st-round upset as late Wimbledon entry:
Canada’s Victoria Mboko pulls off 1st round, straight-sets upset as late Wimbledon entry
After Frech pulled even at 2-2 in the second set, Mboko reeled off four straight games, closing out the match with a backhand unforced error from Frech.
Mboko fired three aces to three double faults, won 77 per cent of her first-serve points and converted five of 10 break chances.
The rising Canadian star, who reached the third round of the French Open in May, moves on to face 23-year-old American Hailey Baptiste in the second round at London’s All England Club.
Earlier, Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., was upset in the first round, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 to Argentina’s Mariano Navone.
The 27th seed double-faulted 11 times and won just 53 per cent of his second-serve points.
Navone, ranked No. 41 in the world, broke Shapovalov six times in the match.
It’s Shapovalov’s earliest exit at Wimbledon since 2019.
WATCH | Shapovalov makes early exit at Wimbledon:
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov makes early exit at Wimbledon
Fellow Canadians Leylah Fernandez, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo remain in singles competition.
Fernandez, of Laval, Que., faces Laura Siegemund on Wednesday, while Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime meets Jan-Lennard Struff, and Diallo, also of Montreal, takes on No. 5 Taylor Fritz.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, the No. 2 seeds in women’s doubles, are set to open their Wimbledon campaign Wednesday against China’s Saisai Zheng and Xinyu Wang.
Coco Gauff became just the third woman in the Open era to lose in the first round at Wimbledon right after winning the championship at the French Open, eliminated 7-6 (3), 6-1 by unseeded Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine on Tuesday night.
The No. 2-ranked Gauff made mistake after mistake at No. 1 Court, finishing with just six winners and a total of 29 unforced errors that included nine double-faults.
It was just a little more than three weeks ago that Gauff was celebrating her second Grand Slam title by getting past No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final on the red clay of Roland-Garros. The 21-year-old American also took home the trophy from the 2023 U.S. Open.
“It’s the win of her career.” <br><br>No.1 Court is stunned as Dayana Yastremska defeats No.2 seed Coco Gauff 7-6(3), 6-1 😲<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon</a> <a href=”https://t.co/pZYylWHcs8″>pic.twitter.com/pZYylWHcs8</a>
Earlier on Tuesday, Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto needed just 58 minutes to stun world No. 3 Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-3.
It was the third-seeded Pegula’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam tournament in five years.
And it came days after the American won the 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.
Two other major finalists, No. 5 Qinwen Zheng and No. 15 Karolina Muchova, also were eliminated Tuesday.
Novak Djokovic was visited twice by a doctor for a stomach issue and given what he called “miracle pills” during a 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2 victory over Alexandre Muller in Wimbledon’s first round on Tuesday night.
Djokovic needed a break while trailing 2-1 in the third set at Centre Court and was seen again later in that set.
He improved to 20-0 in opening matches at the All England Club, where he has won seven of his 24 Grand Slam titles. He’s been to the final at each of the last six editions, although he lost at that stage to Carlos Alcaraz in 2023 and 2024.
Djokovic avoided the sort of upset that’s been rampant on the tournament’s initial two days: A total of 23 seeds — 13 men, 10 women — already is out of the field, tying the highest number at a Grand Slam tournament since 2001, when they began seeding 32 players in each singles bracket.
Djokovic accumulated a whopping 27 break points against the unseeded Muller, converting seven.
Across the 3 hours, 19 minutes, Djokovic only faced three break chances for Muller — none until the last set — and saved each.
Third-seeded Alexander Zverev lost to 72nd-ranked Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (3), 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in the first round at Wimbledon on Tuesday in a match that was suspended overnight.
It was Zverev’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam tournament since 2019 — also at the All England Club.
Rinderknech, a 29-year-old Frenchman, had only one other career victory at Wimbledon — that was last year.
In the buildup to the tournament, Rinderknech reached the quarterfinals at Queen’s Club, where he beat Ben Shelton and Reilly Opelka.
Zverev has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon three times, including last year, but never beyond that point. He lost to Fritz in five sets a year ago.
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 on Tuesday.
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.
Sinner will play Aleksandar Vukic of Australia in the second round.
In other men’s results, Fritz dealt with an overnight suspension before the fifth set to finish off a 6-7 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4 first-round win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard when they resumed Tuesday.
Mpetshi Perricard hit a tournament-record 153 mph serve in the opening game.
No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year and at the French Open last month, was sent home by Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss.
