Tennis-Italian Cocciaretto stuns Pegula in big Wimbledon upset

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By Ossian Shine

LONDON (Reuters) -Fresh off a title in Bad Homburg and tipped for a deep run at Wimbledon, world number three Jessica Pegula suffered a shock first-round exit on Tuesday, dismantled 6-2 6-3 by unheralded Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

It was a meek surrender from Pegula, who looked out of sorts from the outset on Court Two. She landed only half her first serves, struck just five winners and committed 24 unforced errors in a performance more tentative than tenacious.

“No, it wasn’t (good). It was terrible,” Pegula said of her serve. “It’s so frustrating when something you’ve been working on so much doesn’t come and help you when you want it to, especially on grass.”

The American had won 17 consecutive first-round matches at the Grand Slams, a run dating back to 2021.

“It’s really a bummer to lose,” she said. “I’m upset that I wasn’t able to turn anything around. But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane. Kudos to her.”

Cocciaretto, ranked 116th in the world, was rock-solid throughout, breaking the American four times and avenging her straight-sets loss to Pegula at Wimbledon two years ago. It was just the second top-10 win of the 23-year-old’s career, and richly earned.

“Playing on this court is a dream for me,” she said, beaming.

Pegula tried to adjust to the Italian’s pace and variety but found no answers.

“She was forcing a lot of the errors… forcing me to try to change the pace and do different things,” she said.

“The bonus is I can go prep for the hard courts, which seems to be my favourite surface anyways – and see if I can just make some more magic this summer.

“This is definitely the worst result I’ve had all year. I’ve been winning lots of matches. I feel like I’m playing good tennis. Sometimes it doesn’t quite all align when you need it to.”

(Reporting by Ossian Shine, editing by Ed Osmond)