Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has had her Wimbledon dream shattered by 95th ranked American Madison Brengle in the second round.
Brengle triumphed 6-3 1-6 6-2 to defeat the Czech – who won at the All England Club in 2011 and 2014 – in the biggest upset of the tournemant so far.
Kvitova was playing only her third event of the year after recovering from a knife attack at her home in December and had won a warm-up tournament in Birmingham last month after making her return to tennis at the French Open.
On a hot day in London several other women’s seeds just escaped losses and they included hometown favourite Johanna Konta and five-time winner Venus Williams, who were both taken the distance.
Konta, Britain’s biggest hope for a women’s champion at Wimbledon worked her way into the third round after a severe test from Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Konta trailed early but managed to come back and hang on for a 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 10-8 victory.
“It’s a nice feeling not to have to keep going out there,” Konta said.
“We were out there a long time and both of us battled incredibly hard. Whoever was going to draw the short straw was going to be hurting.”
Konta, seeded sixth, is in the third round at the All England Club for the first time in six appearances. She reached the final at a grasscourt warm-up tournament in Birmingham last month, but lost to Vekic.
“I think I overall trusted my game a bit more this time,” said Konta, who is trying to become the first British woman to win the Wimbledon title since Virginia Wade in 1977.
“I’m definitely here with the intention of wanting to be a part of the event for the full two weeks.”
Williams rallied from a set down to overcome China’s 55th-ranked Qiang Wang 4-6 6-4 6-1 after arresting the huge number of unforced errors that were spewing from her racquet.
Elsewhere comeback queen Victoria Azarenka, bypassed 15th seed Elena Vesnina with an impressive 6-3 6-3 victory and the tournament eighth seed Dominka Cibulkova also made it through to the third round with a 6-4 6-4 win over American Jennifer Brady.
