It was a nightmare start for Argentine tennis at Wimbledon, with nine of the 11 players who featured in the first round at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) eliminated on the first two days of competition at the season’s third Grand Slam.

The lone bright spot came from Solana Sierra, who on Monday began her bid to match or improve on last year’s run to the fourth round with a hard-fought victory.

The Mar del Plata native, currently No. 56 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, defeated Hungary’s Anna Bondár (76) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 after a hard-fought contest.

“It’s a difficult surface,” Sierra said after the match, noting that Argentina’s scarcity of grass courts means players only begin to “get a feeling” for their game once the grass season starts.

Even so, she is delighted to be back in London.

“Wimbledon is the best Grand Slam, in my opinion,” she said. “It’s very special and unlike any other because of its history.”

Sierra will face seventh seed Coco Gauff of the United States in the second round on Wednesday.

Nightmare Tuesday

While Monday at least saw Sierra’s win, the second day of action at the AELTC proved an ordeal for Argentine players.

The biggest upset was the defeat of top-ranked Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo. The world No. 21 reached Wimbledon fresh off the first grass title in his career at the Queen’s ATP tournament, but was unable to replicate his form. 

He fell 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to Spain’s Jaume Munar on Tuesday, and is yet to reach the second round at Wimbledon since he did it for the first time in 2023.

Tomás Etcheverry, another of the Argentine players on a good season, found no answers to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego (69), falling 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. For his part, Román Burruchaga (65) fell to World No.6 Alex de Minaur from Australia by 7-6, 6-1, 6-0.

The last Argentine to take to court, Mariano Navone (38), was losing 6-1, 6-7, 3-6 to Italy’s Flavio Cobolli (10) before the match was suspended due to lack of natural light, and will aim to mount a comeback on Wednesday.

In the women’s draw, Roland Garros 2020 semifinalist Nadia Podoroska fell 6-1, 6-2 to Ukraine’s Marta Kostiuk (13).

Podoroska, currently the World No. 594, had managed to enter the main draw using a protected ranking, a provision that allows players returning from long injuries or other setbacks to enter tournament main draws using their previous, pre-absence ranking.

Harsh Monday

Monday wasn’t much better for Argentines in the men’s draw. 

Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (42), who arrived in London fresh from his landmark victory over then-world No. 1 Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros. 

The younger Cerúndolo brother fell in straight sets to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (23), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(4), in two hours and 16 minutes.

Former Argentine No. 1 Sebastián Báez (57) came closer to progressing. After dropping the opening two sets to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff (74), he mounted an impressive comeback to force a decider before eventually falling 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 2-6, 7-5 after three hours.

Camilo Ugo Carabelli (59) looked on course for victory after taking the opening two sets against Spain’s Daniel Mérida (84), but slipped during the third set and was forced to retire early in the fourth with a physical problem. Mérida advanced with a 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 3-0 (ret.) victory.

Thiago Tirante (55) fell to Hungary’s Fábián Marozsán (53) by 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, while veteran Marco Trungelliti (94) was also unable to advance, losing to American Martin Damm (106) 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 7-6(3) after nearly four hours on court.

Cover image: Wimbledon