Rublev crashes out in Wimbledon first round

INDIAN WELLS, Californa: Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, on the comeback trail seven months after giving birth to a son, was ousted in the first round at Indian Wells on Wednesday by France’s 70th-ranked Varvara Gracheva.

The Czech, who welcomed son Petr last July, was playing her second tournament since her return from an 18-month maternity leave but remains in search of her first match win.

Wednesday’s match looked a lot like her loss to Jodie Burrage in Austin last week, with Kvitova unable to close it out after pocketing the first set.

Gracheva, 24, was full of admiration for her 34-year-old opponent, who lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.

“If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her,” Gracheva said. “Because she had a child quite recently, and I’m so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It’s very inspiring for sports, athletes, women — it’s just amazing.”

All 32 men’s and women’s seeds have first round byes in this combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 tournament, the first leg of the US hard court “Sunshine Double” that will conclude in Miami.

Gracheva lined up a second-round meeting with ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old Russian who ousted three Grand Slam winners on the way to becoming the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion in Dubai last month.

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, who returned from a 15-month break last year after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023, headlines the night session taking on Colombian Camila Osorio.

Japan’s Osaka, who won her first WTA title at Indian Wells in 2018, hasn’t played since the Australian Open, where she retired from her third-round match with an abdominal strain.

In other early matches, French veteran Caroline Garcia beat US wild card Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-4 to line up a second-round meeting with second-seeded defending champion Iga Swiatek.

Poland’s Swiatek, who also lifted the trophy in the California desert in 2022, is vying to become the only woman besides Martina Navratilova in 1990-91 to win back-to-back Indian Wells titles, and the first woman to win more than two.

In men’s action, China’s Bu Yunchaokete defeated American Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-4 to book a second-round match against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz the past two years.

Alcaraz is seeded second as he chases a rare three-peat. Germany’s Alexander Zverev is the top seed in a men’s field that is missing world No. 1 Jannik Sinner as he serves a three-month drugs ban but that includes Serbian star Novak Djokovic — chasing a record sixth title.

Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori, who revealed during the Australian Open that he almost quit tennis last year after lengthy battles with injury, defeated Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3) to line up a second-round match against 18th-seeded Ugo Humbert of France.

Nishikori was treated for a leg injury in the third set and then soldiered through cramp to close out the victory.

“It was not easy,” Nishikori said. “In the third set I was cramping pretty badly, but somehow I came back and won, so a very good match.”

In other men’s first-round action, Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild saved a pair of match points on the way to a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) victory over France’s Alexandre Muller.

DUBAI: Underarm serves, a questionable VAR call, fiery competition, and a rowdy crowd: Felix Auger-Aliassime’s 7-6 (7), 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over Alexander Bublik in the Dubai first round on Tuesday certainly had it all.

Auger-Aliassime needed two hours and 49 minutes and four match points to overcome the unpredictable Bublik, who was a finalist in Dubai last year and is renowned for his trick shots and unorthodox playing style.

The opening-set tiebreak was particularly contentious between the pair as Auger-Aliassime requested video replay on a point that was awarded to Bublik. The Kazakhstani had hit an overhead which Auger-Aliassime attempted to reach but claimed he was hindered by the ball boy, who was in his way.

“So if you hit the fence, is it replay?” questioned Bublik from the other side of the net.

Chair umpire Miriam Bley sided with Auger-Aliassime and decided the point should be replayed.

Bublik was not happy with the call but play resumed. It was 6-6 in the breaker and Bublik was on his second serve. Instead of taking a safe route at such a crucial stage in the match, Bublik hit a sneaky underarm serve, which caught Auger-Aliassime by surprise and went unreturned, awarding Bublik a set point.

Bublik gestured to the crowd to get louder, feeling vindicated after the VAR call.

But his triumph was short-lived as he soon double-faulted to gift Auger-Aliassime the set.

It was the Canadian’s turn to rally the crowd behind him, as he mocked Bublik’s celebration from earlier and pointed to his ear with a smirk on his face.

The match ultimately went the way of Auger-Aliassime, who now owns a tour-leading 13 victories so far this season, alongside Alex de Minaur and Jiri Lehecka.

“It was a good match. I think entertaining for the crowd, for both players. And some good tennis as well. Some crazy shots on both sides during the match. So, yeah, high quality,” Auger-Aliassime told Arab News after the win.

The Canadian, who will next face Portugal’s Nuno Borges in round two, improved his head-to-head against Bublik to 3-2 overall and despite being familiar with his opponent’s antics, Auger-Aliassime admits he was taken by surprise a few times during the clash.

“Well, it’s not common, so you forget. And then I got caught a few times,” said Auger-Aliassime.

“And then I was like, ‘alright, this is the last time I get caught. So, I need to stay on my toes and be ready.’ That’s the challenge with him. It’s different. But I welcome and accept every challenge. And it’s good things, you know.”

Auger-Aliassime is enjoying a strong start to 2025, having already lifted two trophies in Adelaide and Montpellier in these opening few weeks of the season.

Dubai is not a typical stop on his calendar but with Doha getting upgraded to the ATP 500 level, Auger-Aliassime said playing back-to-back 500s in the Gulf made for a convenient schedule.

The 24-year-old credits the hard work he has been putting in with his team for his form this season, and is thrilled to see it finally paying off.

Highly-touted from his teen years, Auger-Aliassime had a breakout campaign in 2022, where he peaked at No.6 in the world rankings.

The Canadian entered the scene at a time where the legendary trio of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were still around and he has played each of them at least once.

Now, Auger-Aliassime has to contend with a different dominant force in the shape of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who are both younger than him, and have been winning the majority of the big events on tour.

He explains the challenge he is currently up against in the men’s game.

“It’s different. Rafa, Roger, Novak were idols of mine growing up. These guys, I have a ton of respect for them and they’re unbelievable players, but they’re not my idols in a way,” he said, referring to Sinner and Alcaraz.

“They’re my rivals, my competitors, and they’re good guys too. So it’s good for the sport. That being said, I feel like obviously 18, 19, 20, I was in that group. You know, 22, six in the world and then had some difficulties.

“But it’s been interesting. It’s been interesting. I would have loved to keep on climbing the rankings, keep winning big tournaments. But I feel like as a person, these last two years taught me a lot, gave me a lot of important lessons that hopefully are going to serve me now in this next part of my career and in my future life as well.”