London, UK, 1 July 2025 | Matt Trollope

Daria Kasatkina recovered from an early break down in both sets on Tuesday to reach the second round of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships.

Australia’s No.1 woman saw off the challenge of Emiliana Arango 7-5 6-3, a result setting up a second-round meeting with Irina Camelia Begu, who beat Kaja Juvan in three sets.

Compatriots Priscilla Hon and Maya Joint, both handed tough first-round assignments, were unable to join her in round two.

Hon, who qualified for the main draw to make her Wimbledon debut, fell 6-2 7-5 to 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, despite building a 4-0 second-set lead in the second set.

Joint, meanwhile, couldn’t continue the momentum that took her to last week’s WTA title in Eastbourne, losing to 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who recently reached the semifinals on grass in Berlin.

WIMBLEDON 2025: Aussie delight as De Minaur, Vukic and Hijikata advance

For Kasatkina, it was an impressive result given she’d struggled during the grasscourt season, losing her opening-round matches at Queen’s, Berlin and Eastbourne.

The 16th seed started slowly, with four double faults in her first two service games. But from 2-1 down in the first set she won four of the next five games to establish control.

With the first set in hand, Kasatkina again went down an early break before reeling off four consecutive games on Court 14.

She almost sealed victory when she earned two match points in the eighth game when leading 5-2, but when serving for the match in the following game, she made no mistake, cementing her spot in the second round with an ace.

The result marks Arango’s eighth consecutive loss on grass dating back to 2023, yet Kasatkina is far more comfortable on the lawns.

Last year she won the Eastbourne title and has reached the third round at Wimbledon the past two years.

“Honestly, the start of the day was very, very tough for me (and) I was a bit more nervous than usual,” Kasatkina admitted.

“We had a very physical match, so (I’m) super happy that I was able to push to the end of the first set and to get the lead in the second one, because that was very important.”

Kasatkina was also a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2018 and by winning her first-round match at SW19 this year, she improved her tournament win-loss record to 13-7 – the second-best of the majors behind only Roland Garros.

Earlier this month Kasatkina reached the second week of the claycourt Grand Slam.

AUSSIES IN ACTION: WIMBLEDON

DAY 2 RESULTS

Ladies’ singles, first round

[16] Daria Kasatkina (AUS) d Emiliana Arango (COL) 7-5 6-3
[18] Ekaterina Alexandrova d Priscilla Hon (AUS) 6-2 7-5
[19] Liudmila Samsonova d Maya Joint (AUS) 6-3 6-2

Gentlemen’s singles, first round

[11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 6-2 6-2 7-6(2)
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) d Tseng Chun-Hsin (TPE) 6-3 6-4 4-6 7-6(5)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d David Goffin (BEL) 6-3 6-1 6-1
Fabian Marozsan (HUN) d [Q] James McCabe (AUS) 6-1 6-4 6-3
Arthur Cazaux (FRA) d Adam Walton (AUS) 6-3 7-6(6) 4-6 6-7(5) 6-1
[10] Ben Shelton (USA) d [Q] Alex Bolt (AUS) 6-4 7-6(1) 7-6(4)

COMING UP

Ladies’ singles, second round

[16] Daria Kasatkina (AUS) v Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU)

Gentlemen’s singles, second round

[11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Arthur Cazaux (FRA)
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v [1] Jannik Sinner (ITA)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d [10] Ben Shelton (USA)
Jordan Thompson (AUS) v Benjamin Bonzi (FRA)

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