Wimbledon: Sabalenka cruises past Kostovic as Osaka and Gauff advance on day one

Sabalenka needed just 65 minutes to seal victory at the All England Club, producing 22 winners while limiting her 19-year-old Serbian opponent to 10. Despite the comfortable result, the Belarusian felt there was still room for improvement.

"I have to say, for the first match, I feel pretty good," said Sabalenka. "I rate myself eight out of 10."

The top seed arrived at Wimbledon looking to bounce back from a disappointing end to her French Open campaign, where she suffered a shock quarter-final defeat after surrendering a one-set and 4-1 lead against Diana Shnaider before losing the deciding set 6-0.

Sabalenka later admitted she felt like she wanted to "quit tennis" after that defeat and endured another heavy loss on grass when Jessica Pegula beat her 6-0 in the deciding set of their Berlin clash.

There were no such problems in her Wimbledon opener. Sabalenka did not face a break point until serving for the match at 5-1 in the second set. Although she briefly dropped serve, she responded immediately by breaking back to wrap up the contest.

Sabalenka, who has never reached the Wimbledon final despite making three semi-final appearances in the past four editions of the tournament, is chasing both her maiden title at the All England Club and a first Grand Slam crown on grass.

She will face American McCartney Kessler in the second round.

Also in action on Monday was Naomi Osaka, who made a strong return to Wimbledon grass by defeating France's Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 7-5.

The 14th seed looked sharp despite a recent foot injury that forced her to retire from the Bad Homburg final, dominating the first set and rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the second to seal victory in straight sets.

Coco Gauff also cruised into the second round with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Germany's Tamara Korpatsch.

The seventh seed needed just 54 minutes on court, firing 19 winners with a strong serve to secure her first grass-court win in two years and her first Wimbledon victory since 2024. She will face Argentina's Solana Sierra next.

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