By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -American Sofia Kenin became the highest women’s seed to fall so far at Wimbledon as she suffered a 6-2 6-4 second-round defeat at the hands of compatriot Madison Brengle on Wednesday.
The 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin, seeded four, never got going on a cool Court Two and lasted only 45 minutes against the experienced 31-year-old who has matched her best run here.
“I really did not feel my game,” Kenin who had pulled out of the Eastbourne tournament last week with a minor injury, said.
“I just feel like leading up to Wimbledon I didn’t have enough clearly preparation on the grass.”
Several other Grand Slam champions avoided early exits though on the slick lawns.
Former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza maintained her dominant form as she reached the third round with 6-1 6-4 win over Dutchwoman Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.
Muguruza, winner in 2017, has dropped six games so far.
Last year’s French Open champion Iga Swiatek, seeded seven, got the better of 36-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva as she made an impressive main draw debut.
The 20-year-old former Wimbledon junior champion was handed a testing first round against the 2010 runner-up but made light work of it, winning 6-1 6-3.
“Every match gives me opportunity to have more and more confidence. So I’m pretty happy with my performance today,” Swiatek said. “Playing such an experienced player is never easy because she has many years of playing on grass.”
Latvian big-hitter Jelena Ostapenko, who won the French Open in 2017 and reached the Wimbledon semi-final a year later, underlined her return to form with an easy 6-1 6-2 win over Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez in a delayed first round.
Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens reached the third round for the sixth time with a 7-5 6-3 win over fellow American Kristie Ahn. Unseeded Stephens will now hope to get past that stage at Wimbledon for only the second time in her career.
Victoria Azarenka, who has never reached a Wimbledon final but owns two Australian Open crowns, made her first appearance here this year after Tuesday’s rain interruptions, making up for lost time with a 6-1 6-3 defeat of Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova.
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)