There has been no shortage of drama in the first week so far at Wimbledon, with a host of big names and top seeds tumbling.
The reigning women’s French Open champion and world No2 Coco Gauff made a conspicuous early exit from the competition, falling 7-6 6-1 to the unseeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska.
Gauff’s compatriot and third seed Jessica Pegula also crashed out on Court No2, leaving just Aryna Sabalenka left from the women’s top three.
Pegula arrived at Wimbledon in fine form, beating Iga Swiatek in the final of the Bad Homburg Open just three days ago, but she was flat throughout against Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
The pair were soon followed out the exit door by women’s fifth seed Qinwen Zheng, who fell at the first hurdle at Wimbledon for the third year in a row.
Zheng beat Emma Raducanu at Queen’s last month but struggled here, as doubles specialist Katerina Siniakova beat her 7-5 4-6 6-1.
In the men’s draw, day one saw five seeded casualties, with two in the top 10, and the chaos has continued.
Italian Lorenzo Musetti, a semi-finalist at the All England Club last year, fell in the first round.
The seventh seed took on qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili and was beaten 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1, in what was his first match since retiring from his French Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz.
An even bigger shock came later in the day, when Alexander Zverev was sent packing.
The third seed resumed his match after finishing late last night at a set all and had to win a fourth set tie-break to force a decider, but he was beaten by Arthur Rinderknech. The Frenchman battled his way to a 7-6 6-7 6-3 6-7 6-4 victory.
The latest top seed to fall was Britain’s Jack Draper on Thursday, as he was beaten by Marin Cilic, the 2017 finalist, in four sets.
Draper, the No4 seed, was defeated 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-4 on Centre Court by the Croat, who won the Nottingham Challenger in preparation for the Championships.
On Monday, Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion and former world No1, was beaten in a four-set thriller by the unseeded Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi on Court No2, with Bonzi coming through 7-6(2) 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2 against his irritated Russian opponent.
Holger Rune, the eighth seed, also bowed out, as he was caught up in a marathon five-setter against the big-serving qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who came back in stunning fashion from two sets down to win 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 on Court No3.
24th seed and two-time major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to concede defeat against the unheralded French player Valentin Royer, forfeiting his match at 6-3 6-2 down on Court 12.
Arthur Fery served up a scintillating showing against the 20th seed Alexei Popyrin to dump the Australian out at the first hurdle on Court 15.
On Tuesday, Alexander Bublik, the recently-crowned champion at Halle, was defeated in five sets by the Spaniard Jaume Munar. Kazakhstan’s Bublik had been seen as a dangerous player who might have spelt trouble for the British No4 seed Jack Draper, who he was in line to meet in the third round.
The 2023 Eastbourne champion Francisco Cerundolo, the 16th seed, was beaten in four sets by Nuno Borges.
On Monday, Sonay Kartal started the British rampage early in the day by stunning the former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, the 20th seed, on Court No2, digging deep to win 7-5 2-6 6-2 in sticky conditions.
Katie Boulter stunned world No9 Paula Badosa on Centre Court to secure what nine-time former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova called “perhaps the sweetest win of her career”.
Boulter defied her own ranking of 43rd to beat a top-10 player for only the fourth time, with the 28-year-old Brit winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 on a baking-hot evening on Centre.
Viktoriya Tomova was the surprising victor against the two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, whose injury problems have ravaged her last couple of years.
Jasmine Paolini is also now out, the women’s fourth seed beaten by Kamilla Rakhimova in three sets, followed through the exit door by fellow seeds Diana Shnaider, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Donna Vekic and Leylah Fernandez.
Magdalena Frech, Magda Linette, Ashlyn Krueger and McCartney Kessler are among the other women’s seeds already out.
Frances Tiafoe was beaten by Cameron Norrie on Wednesday as a number more men’s seeds fell, including Queen’s finalist Jiri Lehecka. Ugo Humbert, Denis Shapovalov, Alex Michelsen, Tallon Griekspoor and Matteo Berrettini are also out.
