Garbine Muguruza’s first major tournament as a reigning Grand Slam champion did not last long.
Less than a month after winning Roland Garros, the second-seeded Spaniard was beaten in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday by a Slovakian qualifier ranked No. 124. Jana Cepelova beat a listless and mistake-prone Muguruza 6-3, 6-2 on Court 1 in less than an hour to reach the third round.
“My energy was missing a little today,” Muguruza said. “During the match and after the match, I’m like, ‘Tough day today, empty today.’”
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The Spaniard sprayed ugly shots all over the court and finished with 22 unforced errors, and just nine winners. Cepelova had a first-serve percentage of just over 40 percent, but still outplayed Muguruza with 14 winners and 12 errors.
“She played great, no fear, trying a lot of stuff that was working,” Muguruza said. “But my energy wasn’t there. I was trying but it didn’t work at all.”
Cepelova had to win three matches in qualifying to make it into the main draw. It is not the first time she has knocked off a top player. Cepelova ousted Simona Halep in the first round last year, also on Court 1, and beat Serena Williams at Charleston in 2014.
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“Last year I beat Halep on the same court and I had great memories,” the 23-year-old Cepelova said. “I am so happy.”
The men’s second-seeded fared much better. Andy Murray swept to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory on Centre Court over Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan.
Murray went down an early break in the first set, but settled down, took control and dropped only three more games the rest of the way, breaking the 76th-ranked Lu seven times.
Also advancing was sixth-seeded Milos Raonic, who hit 25 aces in a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2 win over Andreas Seppi. Fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori came from behind to beat Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court; and No. 9 Marin Cilic needed four sets to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4.
In a first-round match extended over three days because of rain, the 18th-seeded Isner served 33 aces and downed Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-2.
Earlier, as the tournament scrambled to get back on schedule after two rainy days, Venus Williams, the oldest player in the women’s draw, needed nearly two hours to get past 20-year-old qualifier Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Fourth seed Angelique Kerber advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Varvara Lepchenko, and No. 5 Halep defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-1 while No. 14 seed Samantha Stosur was knocked out 6-4, 6-2 by 2013 runner-up German Sabine Lisicki.