Semeņistaja Debuts at Wimbledon with Defeat, Ostapenko Advances
Latvia's second-ranked tennis player Darja Semeņistaja lost her Wimbledon main draw debut on Monday, falling to Croatia's Antonija Ruzic. Meanwhile, Aļona Ostapenko won her first-round match and will face Ruzic in the next round.
Darja Semeņistaja played her first match in the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships on Monday, having entered as a lucky loser after Emma Raducanu withdrew due to injury. The world No. 104 lost in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 to the 61st-ranked Antonija Ruzic of Croatia.
In the first set, Semeņistaja broke Ruzic in the third game, but the Croatian broke back immediately. Semeņistaja lost her serve in the sixth game and dropped the set 3-6. The second set saw Semeņistaja lose serve in the fifth game, but she broke back and won four consecutive games to take the set 6-3.
At the start of the deciding set, Semeņistaja missed six break points, including three in a row in the first game on Ruzic's serve, allowing the Croatian to go up 3-0. Both players held serve until the ninth game, when Semeņistaja saved two match points but could not convert a break point. Ruzic converted her third match point to win 6-3.
This was Semeņistaja's first appearance in the Wimbledon main draw. In qualifying, she had lost in the third round to Russia's Anastasia Gasanova, but gained a spot after Raducanu's withdrawal. The Latvian had attempted to qualify in the previous three years, losing at various stages.
Meanwhile, Latvia's top player Aļona Ostapenko, ranked 31st, defeated Britain's Harriet Dart 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 on Monday. Dart had received a wild card. Ostapenko will face Antonija Ruzic in the second round.
Semeņistaja has 21 wins in 41 matches this season, while Ruzic has 16 wins in 34 matches. Wimbledon is the third Grand Slam of the season, played on grass courts.
