Wimbledon 2026: Krejcikova vs Andreeva, Gauff supera a Sierra, Sinner vence a Borges

Djokovic slips 0-15 down in the opening game, before zipping through the next four points to hold. It's the same story in Tsitsipas's opening service game. And then Djokovic ups the ante with a hold to love. The 7X champ leads 2-1 on serve.

Elsewhere: Pablo Carreno Busta is doing his best to gain some revenge over his young fellow Spaniard Rafael Jodar for beating him at the French Open, and has taken the first set 6-3. Auger-Aliassime is now two sets to the good, 7-6, 6-3, against Dino Prizmic, and Britain's Henry Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara, the champions here two years ago, no less, have booked their spot in the second round of the men's doubles.

These two know each other very well, having contested two grand slam finals, at the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open, as well as four other finals. Djokovic won them all, but he did have to come from two sets down at Roland Garros.

This time last year Tsitsipas retired in opening round because of chronic back problem that forced him to consider retiring from tennis completely. But thankfully it now seems to be under control and, having recently split with his coach/dad Apostolos, he's looking to reach the third round of a slam for the first time in more than two years.

Krejcikova's victory means that Stefanos Tsitsipas is bouncing up and down backstage, waiting to make his Centre Court entrance alongside Novak Djokovic, who's once again wearing his RF-style blazer. The gall of copying the once GOAT, even if you are now the GOAT!

Andreeva, meanwhile, smashed her racket into her bag and I think told her box “I don't want to hear it†before departing in double quick time. That's tough to watch, especially given she'd managed to find impressive emotional equilibrium at the French Open, but she's still young, she'll learn from this. And it's probably no surprise that she was exhausted emotionally after what she achieved in Paris. In the past four decades, only Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have managed to achieve a Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in the same summer. It's one of the toughest tasks in tennis.

“We've been fighting for almost three hours, what a match, what a match,†says Krejcikova, gasping for air. “I think this is my fifth time playing with Mirra. It's always been a huge fight. She's so young and a unique player, she has everything in front of her. I'm really happy we were able to put on such a great show and we were fighting until the last point.

“I'm extremely proud to win on the best court in the world. I've been through a lot with injuries and in my personal life. The last couple months was really hard to get through with the emotions of what has happened. I hope my niece was watching because she loves tennis. I think she has chicken pox, so I hope I made her proud.â€

Up next in the third round will be her Czech mate Nikola Bartunkova, not that Krejcikova will want to know. She quirkily always tries to avoid finding out who her next opponent is until the morning of each match.

A huge point at 30-all, with Andreeva going for game point and Krejcikova for a seventh match point. Andreeva is hitting deep and true and Krejcikova skews wide. 40-30. But Andreeva's lob is long on game point and Krejcikova has a reprieve at deuce. And Andreeva throws in a double to gift Krejcikova a seventh MP! And this time Andreeva can't perform any heroics! Krejcikova, the 2024 champion who didn't have much form coming into this tournament, has taken out the French Open champion, and you just can't count the Czech out when she plays on grass. A superb display.

… Krejcikova escapes back to deuce as he effort just clips the baseline, takes the next point to secure a sixth MP… but nothing is straightforward in this game and Krejcikova hits well beyond the baseline! And a forehand winner from Andreeva followed by a backhand error from Krejcikova finally settles matters! This is back on serve and Andreeva's hand is shaking as she takes a swig from her bottle at the changeover; the adrenaline is pumping and she's found a way out of her slump and has got this deciding set back on serve at 4-5 down!

… now it's break point Andreeva, and Krejcikova shows a tremendous all-court game to move forward and dispatch a backhand volley winner! Andreeva soon gets herself a second break point, and if she can find a way to pull off victory from the jaws of defeat here, it'll be career-forming, even for a 19-year-old who's already won a slam …

Krejcikova quickly brings up a fourth match point, a long rally plays out …. Andreeva is dragging Krejcikova left and right and left … and the French Open champion pulls off the winner! Deuce. Advantage Krejcikova, a fifth match point. This time Krejcikova misses an inside-in forehand! And Andreeva accelerates to her right to ping a forehand passing winner down the line! Martinez smiles, despite being frozen out by Andreeva for most of this match, and they're back at deuce …

Krejcikova holds for 5-2. Andreeva manages to get out of her funk to hold to love for 5-3. But now Krejcikova is serving for the match, and two aces help her sprint to 40-0. But a forehand winner from Andreeva, a forehand error from Krejcikova and a double fault later, and it's somehow deuce! All three match points have vanished …

Gavriella Epstein-Lightman is helpfully back, to provide some analysis on FAA v Prizmic, given my eyes have firmly been on Centre Court and Atlanta Stadium. “In 2024, Prizmic showed his talent against Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Australian Open. He pushed the Serb to four sets in a performance that underlined his potential – a promise he has yet to fulfil. Now, he's narrowly lost the first set 7-6 to third seed Auger-Aliassime. It's a set that ended frustratingly for Prizmic, with a double fault, though he had plenty of opportunities.â€

Belinda Bencic, the former Olympic champion and last year's semi-finalist, has won 7-5, 6-0 against China's Xinyu Wang and will play the 19th seed Anna Kalinskaya in the third round. And a potentially decisive moment on Centre Court, as Krejcikova breaks from deuce for 4-2 in the final set, with an increasingly volatile Andreeva looking as if she may combust at any moment. This is very much early-career Andreeva right now; all of the emotional control she showed at the French Open has disappeared. And she's not the tiniest bit impressed when Centre Court erupts to celebrates England's victory.

Krejcikova is interrupted at deuce on her serve as Centre Court celebrates Harry Kane's superb second. The All England Club has banned World Cup matches from being shown around the grounds, but of course the spectators can't resist having a covert look on their phones, even though the umpire is demanding silence. Krejcikova claims the next two points to hold for 3-2, just as Auger-Aliassime secures the first set against Prizmic on a tie-break, racing through seven points to two.

Andreeva, who showed newly found composure and maturity to win her first grand slam title in Paris a few weeks ago, is in a bit of a teenage funk right now, still blanking her box, stomping around the court and playing with little equilibrium; a winner one minute, a messy error the next. Andreeva plants a volley into the net to give Krejcikova a break point but the Czech can't capitalise. And the Russian fifth seed escapes with the hold. It's Andreeva 6-4, 5-7, 2-2 Krejcikova.

A brief delay on Centre Court as Andreeva's bracelet breaks and the beads are being picked up off the grass. A longer delay follows as Krejcikova gets treatment for a blister. When Krejcikova returns to the baseline there's a big cheer, but it's not for the Czech, it's because news has filtered through of England's equaliser. When England beat Switzerland on penalties in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, Novak Djokovic acted out a penalty kick mid-match on Centre Court, but Andreeva and Krejcikova aren't in the mood for such frivolity, they look as if they just want to focus on the tennis. It's going on serve in the deciding set, with Krejcikova leading 2-1.

Also getting going: Britain's Henry Patten and Finland's Harri Heliovaara, the 2024 men's doubles winners and the French Open runners-up this month, against the French pair Terence Atmane and Luca Sanchez. Elsewhere in the men's doubles there was defeat earlier for one of the most potentially combustible pairs to ever team up in tennis, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik. Kyrgios, who was playing his first match at Wimbledon since losing the 2022 final to Novak Djokovic, marked his return by swearing at the umpire and saying he didn't care if he fined. Some things never change.

Mochizuki will take on the winner of the all-Spanish affair between the new Rafa on the block, Rafael Jodar, and Pablo Carreno Busta. They're just warming up on No 2 Court.

Pegula is through, 7-6, 6-1 against Sorribes Tormo. Another American, young Ethan Quinn, is out though, losing 6-2, 7-6, 7-5 against the Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki, the 2019 junior Wimbledon champion who's broken new ground by reaching the third round of a major for the first time.

Some Sinner and Sabalenka highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Usually it's the player who's lost the set that goes off court, but interestingly it's Krejcikova who's taken her leave here. Maybe she's a secret England fan. Martinez, meanwhile, is trying to shout some instructions to Andreeva, but the 19-year-old doesn't want to listen. The impudence of youth, eh.

“A former Wimbledon champion against the reigning Roland Garros champion. Andreeva vs Krejcikova is a match to savour,†emails Gavriella Epstein-Lightman, who may be one of the only Guardian readers currently not over there. “The fact that it is coming in the second round is testament to Krejcikova's injury woes and lack of form. But the Czech strikes a cleaner ball than most and is expert at guiding crisp forehands into the corners like precision-guided missiles. Her unyielding accuracy and the penetration of her groundstrokes has disrupted Andreeva's rhythm.â€

Andreeva's coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, is urging her charge through every point now, but Krejcikova holds for 6-5 and then slices and dices her way to 0-30 on Andreeva's serve. The 2024 champion is two points away from forcing a deciding set. Make that one, when Andreeva blinks on her backhand. 0-40. Krejcikova flings a forehand into the net on the first set point, but with the sun half baked in sun, half darkened by the shade, Andreeva rams a forehand wide and this one is going the distance. It's Andreeva 6-4, 5-7 Krejcikova.

Krejcikova is serving for the second set … and blinks at the most inopportune time, with two unforced errors and a double fault gift-wrapping three break-back points for Andreeva, who doesn't capitalise on the first two but does on third. And the 19-year-old Andreeva, the champion in Paris three weeks ago, regains the strut of a newly crowned, first-time grand slam champion as she holds for 5-5. It's Andreeva leading 6-4, 5-5.

Jovic completes the win when Maria's backhand flumps into the net. It's taken the 18-year-old only 68 minutes to outclass a very accomplished competitor in Maria, the champion on the grass of Queen's last year. Watch this space because the Californian with Serbian heritage, who Novak Djokovic believes “has all the tools to become a future champion and world No 1â€, is going places and is into the Wimbledon third round for the first time.

Jessica Pegula, the fourth seed who, like Coco Gauff, is seeking some Wimbledon redemption after being bundled out in the first round last year, has claimed the opening set on a tie-break, eight points to six, against Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo. Meanwhile Pegula's fellow American Jovic is racing to the finish line, now 6-1, 5-2 ahead against Maria.

Back on Centre Court, in the battle of the French Open champions past and present, Krejcikova is on the comeback trail, breaking Andreeva for 3-1 and then backing it up for 4-1. “COME ON ENGLAND!†chirps one fan in the Centre Court stands; Andreeva doesn't look too impressed, as she smacks a ball into the Wimbledon skies, but that may be more down to the scoreline, tbf. The 30-year-old Krejcikova has had very little form to speak of this year, but is such a crafty competitor and thrives on the grass, which she conquered when she won the title here in 2024. So Andreeva leads by a set, 6-4, but Krejcikova is in command of the second at 4-1.

Daniel reminds me that Prizmic nearly beat Fonseca in Paris, pushing his fellow whippersnapper all the way to five sets, so this may not be as straightforward as it initially appears for FAA. It looks fairly comfortable for another precocious talent, though, on court 15, because Iva Jovic is 6-1, 3-1 to the good against Tatjana Maria, last year's Queen's champion, whose eldest daughter is closer in age to the 18-year-old Jovic than the 38-year-old Maria is.

Gauff's victory means next up on No 1 Court it's Canada's leading man, Felix Auger-Aliassime, the third seed no less having been bumped up in Carlos Alcaraz's injury-enforced absence, marking Canada Day with a second-round match against the Wimbledon debutant Dino Prizmic, a 20-year-old from Croatia.

Thanks Daniel and hello again all! Though it may be that I'm talking into a void, given what's going on in Atlanta. But anyway, great stuff from Gauff, who showed Peak Serena-style fight to get through that tie-break, winning the final six points and further exorcising her first-round defeat of last year. She also had an early defeat at the French Open this summer, losing in the third round when she was defending her title. She'll face her fellow American Claire Liu next, a former junior Wimbledon champ.

Otherwise, Sorribes Tormo leads Pegula 6-5 in the first, while Andreeva has taken the first set off Krejcikova and now leads 6-4 1-1. Anyroad up, I'm off for a break, so here's Katy back with you for the next bit.

What a match that was, one of the best if not the best so far. But that shot from Gauff, at 7-7 in the match breaker, was something else, an unbelievable combination of skill and will, a player refusing to be beaten with the hands to make it happen. Sensational.

She was happy and proud of herself, she explains, saying Sierra played a great match, hitting big shots to put her on the defence. She's pleased with how she served, saying it held up throughout and took her coach's frequent advice to remind herself who she is: she's good at breaking and is a great returner, so reminded herself when Sierra served for the match, whole also looking to serve aggressively.

She also reminded herself to relax, though she was nervous throughout then, told today is the anniversary of her announcing herself to the world, beating Venus Williams, she says she's improved since then so can definitely do it now. Finally, she thanks the crowd, noting that you get to play maybe 10 or 12 ties, so she's trying to make the most of the opportunity because one day she'll be watching someone her age do it, wishing it was her.

Gauff bellows, shrieks and hollers a primal feeling that explodes into the world; my days, she wanted that, and how – how? – how! – she seized it.So here she is!

Incredible, ethereal, transcendental. Amazing show of heart and moxie from Gauff, who found something when she had nothing; Sierra won't sleep for about a year.

But Gauff wins both her service points for 6-7, an error makes it 7-7, AND WHAT ON EARTH! Ball behind her, on the baseline, point effectively lost, Gauff not only flicks it back over the net, but somehow, it's a winner! What a champion she is, that is remarkable and the shot of the championships so far! A service winner follows and that's match point!

What a player. next for him: Van de Zandschulp or Safiullun.

Sierra flaps a forehand long and the nerves are affecting both players now, the unforced errors mounting. Ohhh, but have a look! An inside-out backhand to the corner makes 6-4 and she looks the likelier winner, all the more so when a netted return gives her 7-4; Gauff is running out of chances and, I feel, only wins if there's a choke. She's just not playing well enough to win enough points in a row.