The No3 seed Simona Halep became the highest-profile casualty in the women’s event when she was dumped out in the first round 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 by Jana Cepelova of Slovakia, the world No106. Cepelova had won only one Tour-level match in 2015 before Wimbledon and won only three games the only other time she faced Halep but turned the match around with some gutsy, consistent play to reach the second round.
A painful-looking blister on the middle toe of her left foot did not help, especially on her serve, which coughed up seven double faults. But Halep, a semi-finalist last year, was also guilty of making too many unforced errors, 34 in all, as her usually consistent groundstroke game broke down. It was her earliest exit in more than two years.
The 22-year-old Cepelova beat the world No1 Serena Williams in 2014 but this would go down as the most important victory of her career. “It is of course better because it’s Wimbledon, a grand slam,” she said. “Simona’s a very good player but today was my day.”
In a match of 15 breaks of serve Halep looked to be in command when she won the first set, serving it out after taking an injury time-out for the blister. But Cepelova continued to attack the Romanian’s second serve and she broke again to level the match. The Romanian broke in the first game of the decider but Cepelova won the next four games and then, when serving for the match at 5-3, came from 0-40 down, clinching victory when Halep splayed another forehand wide.
