In one of the most stunning early exits in recent Wimbledon history, No. 2 seed Coco Gauff was upset in the first round on Tuesday night by unseeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, falling 7-6 (3), 6-1 on No. 1 Court. Just three weeks after lifting the French Open trophy, Gauff’s bid for a second consecutive Grand Slam title came to a jarring halt.
The loss makes Gauff just the third woman in the Open era to crash out in the first round at Wimbledon after winning the French Open, joining Justine Henin (2005) and Francesca Schiavone (2010). According to ESPN Research, it also marks the first time in the Open era that two of the top three women’s seeds — Gauff and No. 3 Jessica Pegula — have lost in the first round of the same major.
Gauff, 20, committed 29 unforced errors and tallied only six winners in a nervy and error-prone performance. Nine of those unforced errors were double faults, including two in the opening set tiebreaker and one during her opening service game of the second set, which she was immediately broken in. She landed just 45% of her first serves and won only 44% of points on her second serve.
“I don’t think the change in court or the start time had much to do with it,” Gauff said after the match, referencing the last-minute move from Centre Court to No. 1 Court and a schedule adjustment she was informed of just an hour prior. “It was just one of those nights where nothing was clicking.”
For Yastremska, currently ranked No. 42 in the world, the victory was both redemptive and historic. She had lost all three of her previous meetings with Gauff and came into the tournament with a career 10–11 record in Grand Slam first-round matches. But the 24-year-old, who made a breakthrough run to the Australian Open semifinals earlier this year, played clean, aggressive tennis and was unbothered by the moment. She had recently reached her first grass-court final in Nottingham, a run she credited for her growing confidence.
“I knew I had to be aggressive and take my chances,” Yastremska said. “This is one of the biggest wins of my career, and it feels amazing to do it here at Wimbledon.”
Despite her global stardom and recent clay-court triumph, grass continues to pose challenges for Gauff. Since her magical Wimbledon debut at age 15 in 2019 — when she stunned Venus Williams and reached the fourth round — she has struggled to replicate that success on the All England Club’s lawns. It remains the only major where she has yet to reach a semifinal and marks her second first-round exit in the past three years at SW19.
The transition from clay to grass has historically been difficult for many top players. The last woman to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year was Serena Williams in 2015 — underscoring the challenge Gauff faced coming off her triumph at Roland Garros, where she defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
For now, Wimbledon will have to wait once again for a deep Gauff run. The American star leaves London with a bitterly early exit and plenty of questions about her grass-court game, while Yastremska surges into the second round with momentum and belief.
