The first round of the 2026 Wimbledon tournament is under way, and we have seen one top 10 ranked player knocked out on the men’s side and one top 10 ranked player knocked out on the women’s side. On the men’s side, 140th ranked Otto Virtanen of Hyvinkaa, Finland, upset the fourth ranked player, Ben Shelton of the United States, the two-time grand slam semifinalist, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6. On the women’s side, Daria Snigur of Kyiv, Ukraine, upset the world number eight, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the four-time grand slam semifinalist, 7-5, 6-2.
Virtanen broke Shelton on three occasions. Snigur broke Svitolina on six occasions. Snigur also had a fantastic first serve percentage of 78%, while Svitolina was only at 49%.
Heading into the first round, I predicted four first round upsets on the men’s side. Three of them materialized. Lorenzo Sonego of Italy upset 29th ranked Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Kamil Majchrzak of Poland upset the 30th ranked Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. Quentin Halys of France upset the 32nd seed Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-3.
In round two, I am predicting one upset on the men’s side. I like American Jenson Brooksby to upset Peru’s Ignacio Buse, the 31st seed. This will be their first head-to-head meeting. Buse is a clay court specialist and only won his first career Wimbledon match in the first round.
The two juiciest matches in round two on Wednesday will take place on Center Court. Mirra Andreeva of Russia, the French Open champion, will face two-time grand slam champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, and 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia will face two-time grand slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
