The Japan Times - Alcaraz ends Tarvet's Wimbledon adventure, Paolini crashes out

A record-breaking number of seeds crashed out at the All England Club in the first round, but Alcaraz and women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka avoided seismic shocks on Centre Court.

Second-seeded Alcaraz needed two hours and 17 minutes to subdue world number 733 Tarvet, who produced flashes of his emerging talent to delight the partisan crowd.

"First of all I have to give big praise to Oliver. In his second match on the tour, I just loved his game to be honest," Alcaraz said.

"I knew I had to play my best tennis. I was really happy with my performance but big praise to him as well."

Alcaraz has won his past 20 matches since losing to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April, a blistering streak that has brought him titles at the Rome Masters, the French Open and Queen's Club.

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who fought back from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner on clay in an epic final at Roland Garros last month, has won 31 of his 34 Tour-level matches on grass.

His last defeat at Wimbledon came against Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.

Having vanquished Novak Djokovic in the past two Wimbledon finals, the world number two hopes to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win at least three consecutive Wimbledon titles after seven-time champion Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.

In stark contrast to Alcaraz's fame and fortune, the unheralded Tarvet is just starting his tennis career and cannot even collect all of his Wimbledon prize money.

As a student of the University of San Diego, the 21-year-old has to maintain amateur status and will have to give up most of his earnings.

While Alcaraz is a five-time Grand Slam champion, Tarvet was playing just his second major main draw match after coming through three qualifiers and beating Leandro Riedi in the opening round.

"It was just really special. It's not every day that you get to play against maybe the best player in the world. I did a pretty good job of enjoying the moment and trying to play some good tennis, Tarvet said.

- 'I hope it's no upsets anymore' -

In the first two days, nine of the top 10 seeded players across the men's and women's singles draws were eliminated, a Grand Slam record in the Open era.

Second seed Coco Gauff, third seed Jessica Pegula and fifth seed Zheng Qinwen all lost in the first round.

And Italian fourth seed Paolini was next to stumble in the second round.

Paolini, beaten by Barbora Krejcikova in the 2024 Wimbledon title match, slumped to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat against Russian world number 62 Kamilla Rakhimova.

Sabalenka bucked the trend, out-duelling 48th-ranked Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in a heavy-hitting contest.

The Belarusian, who suffered painful defeats in the finals of both the Australian Open and the French Open this year, lashed an impressive 41 winners in a match lasting one hour and 35 minutes.

"Honestly it's very sad to see so many top players losing but you better focus on yourself," said the three-time Grand Slam winner.

"I hope it's no upsets anymore in this tournament, if you know what I mean!"

Sabalenka's next opponent is Britain's Emma Raducanu, the former US Open champion beating 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3.

Sixth seed and Australian Open champion Madison Keys also advanced, making short work of Serbia's Olga Danilovic in a 6-4, 6-2 win.

On the men's side, 13 seeded players lost in the first round, breaking the previous tournament record of 11 and tying the 2004 Australian Open for the most at a Grand Slam.

American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe was the latest leading man to endure a surprise defeat, losing to British world number 61 Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 in the second round.

H.Hayashi--JT