Wimbledon champion Rybakina falls at WTA San Jose event

Wimbledon champion Rybakina falls at WTA San Jose event

Sports

Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan lost to seventh seed Daria Kasatkina.

SAN JOS (AFP) - Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan lost to seventh seed Daria Kasatkina on Monday in a first-round match at the WTA San Jose hardcourt tournament.

World number 12 Kasatkina won 11 of the last 12 games to win 1-6, 6-2, 6-0 in Rybakina’s debut match since winning her first major title.

Kasatkina will next play American Taylor Townsend, who eliminated Australian Storm Sanders 6-1, 6-4 at the US Open hardcourt tuneup event.

After 23rd-ranked Rybakina rolled through the opening set in 35 minutes, Kasatkina dominated the final two.

American Madison Keys, the 2017 US Open runner-up, defeated China’s Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-2 to book a second-round date against Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who lost to Rybakina in last month’s Wimbledon final.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, and American sixth seed Coco Gauff would meet in a second-round matchup if both win their openers on Tuesday.