Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka paid the price for too many errors as she lost in straight sets to 19th seed Emma Navarro.
The 26-year-old, playing at Wimbledon for the first time in five years, was beaten 6-4 6-1 in the second round.
The defeat means Osaka has still not progressed beyond the third round at Wimbledon after four attempts.
Competing as a wildcard after the birth of her first child last year, Osaka missed the 2022 tournament through injury and in 2021 took breaks from the sport to deal with mental health issues.
She came through a tight match with world number 53 Diane Parry, of France, on Monday but faded under the Centre Court roof against American Navarro, who made only five unforced errors compared with Osaka’s 16.
Four wayward shots in the seventh game gave up a break to love and Osaka was denied an immediate break-back point opportunity when Navarro successfully challenged what appeared to have been a winner from the Japanese.
The second set began with Osaka firing a forehand long when she had an open court, and a feeble drop-volley into the net with her opponent stranded followed as Navarro broke straight away.
Two further breaks of serve for Navarro hastened the end after just 59 minutes to set up a meeting with Russian Diana Shnaider.
“I didn’t feel fully confident in myself. I didn’t feel like I was playing that well,” said Osaka.
I guess those doubts started trickling in a lot into my game. Obviously the second set wasn’t that great.”
Gauff ‘passionate’ but tennis ‘not that serious’
Earlier, Coco Gauff stormed past Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni to move into the third round of Wimbledon.
The second seed entertained the crowd under the roof on Court One with big hitting to earn a 6-2 6-1 victory in 66 minutes.
Gauff will play British qualifier Sonay Kartal, who claimed the biggest win of her career with victory over France’s Clara Burel later on Wednesday.
A second convincing win this week marks progress for American Gauff at SW19 after a surprise exit in the first round last year.
“Overall, I just learned about life a lot. I guess you do as you get older,” the 20-year-old said.
“I realised what I do, yes I’m passionate about, but it’s not that serious and sometimes the world can make you feel like there’s so much pressure, so much expectation.
“At the end of the day, it’s a game, it’s a sport and I’m very privileged to be playing out here.”
Todoni, 19, came into Wednesday’s match on the back of a dominant win – and her first victory in a Grand Slam – over fellow qualifier Olga Danilovic, of Serbia.
But she faced a tougher opponent in US Open winner Gauff, who is among the favourites to go the distance at Wimbledon.
After dropping serve early, Todoni couldn’t make the most of any chances to break back.
It was an uphill task from there for Todoni, who struggled to absorb Gauff’s powerful ball striking and won just three points on her opponent’s serve.
American 11th seed Danielle Collins returned to complete a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Denmark’s Clara Tauson after their match was paused on Tuesday evening because of fading light and a slippery surface.
Elina Svitolina, the 21st seed from Ukraine, moved past Poland’s Magda Linette with a hard-fought 7-5 6-7 (9-11) 6-3 win.
Canadian Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion who has been plagued by injuries since, knocked out Czech 26th seed Linda Noskova 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Andreescu will play Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, who defeated Greet Minnen 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
Sloane Stephens, who won the US Open two years before Andreescu lost 6-1 6-1 to Diana Shnaider.
Source Agencies
