Wimbledon 2019: Cori Gauff beats Venus Williams, Djokovic through, Osaka out – as it happened

With barely anything still going on, it’s time to wrap up the blog. What a fascinating day it’s been. It will be remembered in the main for Cori Gauff’s astonishing victory over Venus Williams, who must have felt like she was taking part in a changing of the guard as she fell to her 15-year-old opponent. But it wasn’t all good for the youngsters. While Felix Auger Aliassime secured his first ever grand slam win with a victory over Vasek Pospisil, there were unhappy exits for Naomi Osaka, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Experience still counts, as Novak Djokovic demonstrated with a calm victory over Phillipp Kohlschreiber. Thanks for reading and emailing. I’ll be back tomorrow. We’ll be joined by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. See you then. Bye.

Victoria Azarenka, the former world No1, is through to the second round after seeing off Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-4 on Court 12. She plays Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic next.

1 July 2019: a day that’s likely to carry heavy relevance in the history books.

1 July 2019: the day Cori Gauff won her first ever match at a grand slam.

1 July 2019: the day Felix Auger Aliassime won his first ever match at a grand slam.

Grigor Dimitrov has shown exactly why he was plonked on Court 15. A former semi-finalist here, the ATP World Tour Finals champion in 2017, the world No49 is nothing more than an afterthought at a grand slam at the moment. If you’re on Court 15 it’s a sign of irrelevance. Unfortunately you just can’t rely on Dimitrov. He’s lovely to watch at times, but there’s no substance to him and he’s done very well to contrive to lose this one, going down 2-6, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to Corentin Moutet, a French qualifier who plays Felix Auger Aliassime in the second round. Elsewhere David Goffin, the 21st seed, has beaten Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Medical timeout over for Jaume Munar, Kyle Edmund’s able to have another go at serving for the match. And he makes sure there’s no funny business this time. He earns two match points and finishes off his Spanish opponent with an ace. A good performance from the British No1 means he’ll play the fiery and unpredictable Fernando Verdasco in the second round.

View image in fullscreen

Jaume Munar holds. Kyle Edmund will serve for it again at 6-4, 6-4, 5-4. He’ll have to wait, though. Munar has the trainer on because of a finger problem and is having a medical timeout.

Jelena Ostapenko’s French Open triumph in 2017 might end up going down as one of the weirdest slam wins of all time. The Latvian, unseeded here, has gone out in the first round after losing 6-2, 6-2 to Hsieh Su-wei, the 28th seed.

Serving for the match, Kyle Edmund squanders a match point before netting a forehand to gift a break to Jaume Munar. It’s not over yet. Edmund’s lead is cut to 6-4, 6-4, 5-3. Munar will serve.

Another retirement. This time it’s Gael Monfils, the 16th seed, who was trailing his fellow Frenchman 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 3-0 when he called it a day.

Cori Gauff’s dad was so happy he ripped his baseball cap off his head. Dads, eh? His daughter’s look at the end was quite something. That bottom lip sure was trembling. To put it into context Venus Williams won four of her seven grand slams before Gauff was born.

In other news Caroline Wozniacki is through to the second round after Sara Sorribes Tormo retires injured in the first set on Court 2. Woznacki was 4-0 down, but she was leading 5-4 by the time Sorribes Tormo called it quits.

Serving for the match, Gauff begins by sending a backhand wide. She wins the next point, though, and follows it up with a cool ace for 30-15. Then Williams nets a forehand return, giving up two match points. This has been an incredible performance from Gauff. Yet Williams saves the first with a huge forehand. Gauff challenges it unsuccessfully. Then Williams crunches a backhand down the line for deuce. What a shot. The next one’s not so smart, though, a forehand into the net giving Gauff another match point. Again, though, Williams saves it, this time with a forehand into the corner. Stranded behind the baseline, there’s a gasp as Gauff slips. She doesn’t appear to have suffered any damage, but it’s not long before an error hands Williams a break point. Amazingly, though, Gauff goes for an 108mph second serve and Williams hits a forehand return wide. A fourth chance arrives for Gauff. This time there’s no reprieve for Williams, who nets her final forehand. Gauff can’t believe it. She walks to the net to shake hands with her idol, who greets her with a big, generous smile. Then Gauff lets a few tears roll down her cheeks. In her box her parents are ecstatic. Their daughter’s 15! She’s just knocked the great Venus Williams out of Wimbledon!

View image in fullscreen

Oh my! Coco Gauff shakes off the disappointment of dropping her serve by earning a break point with some expert hustling that draws an error from Venus Williams, who then proceeds to clip a volley wide! Gauff breaks to lead 6-4, 5-4 and will serve for the match.

Victoria Azarenka, not the unseeded player you want in a first-round draw, takes the first set 6-4 against Alize Cornet on Court 12. On Court 18, Jelena Ostapenko, the former French Open champion, is a set down to Hsieh Su-wei.

Jaume Munar’s fizzling out. He plonks an overhead into the net and Kyle Edmund breaks to lead 6-4, 6-4, 3-0. Nice and simple for the British No1. If only the same was true for Grigor Dimitrov, though. The former future Roger Federer’s lowly ranking is demonstrated by his spot on Court 15 and he’s busy making life difficult for himself at the moment. He was two sets up against French qualifier Corentin Moutet, but now he’s a break down in the fourth. Oh Grigor.

The youngster finally wobbles. Coco Gauff double-faults on break point and Venus Williams is back in it at 4-4 in the second set.

Kyle Edmund is a set away from round two. He leads 6-4, 6-4 against the entertaining but flawed Jaume Munar.

The joint second fastest serve of the day has been hit by Coco Gauff. She’s 15. It registered at 116mph. Since you’re asking Venus Williams, her opponent here, is level with Naomi Osaka at the top of the board on 118mph. But here’s a reminder that fasting serving doesn’t always mean accurate serving. A few untimely double faults from Williams are enough for the eerily composed Gauff to earn what could be a pivotal break. The youngster leads 6-4, 3-2.

Caroline Wozniacki, the 14th seed, has made a slow start against Sara Sorribes Tormo on Cout 2. She trails 0-4 against the unseeded Spaniard. Elsewhere Daria Kasatkina, the 29th seed, is out after losing 6-3, 6-1 to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.

It increasingly looks like Andy Murray and Serena Williams are going to partner up in the mixed doubles. Let’s hope she doesn’t end up withdrawing, though. That’s what happened to John McEnroe when he came out of retirement to partnet with Steffi Graf in 1999. She ended up going deep in the singles, reaching the final, and pulled out of their mixed doubles semi-final.

The kid’s serious. Serving for the set, Coco Gauff zings an ace down the middle to lead 40-15. Two set points. She only needs one. Venus Williams, the former champion, nets a backhand and we are one set away from one hell of a story.

View image in fullscreen

Venus Williams lashes a few thudding forehands away to stay in the first set. Coco Guaff will serve for it at 5-4. How are her nerves? Jangling, I assume.

Such composure from Coco Gauff, easy power in her groundstrokes enough for her to consolidate the break and lead 4-2 against Venus Williams. The 15-year-old’s enjoying her Wimbledon debut at the moment.

While all that was going on Coco Gauff broke Venus Williams, who dropped her serve when she fired wide. Gauff, at 15 the youngest ever qualifier into the main draw here, leads 3-2 against her fellow American on Court 1.

Kyle Edmund finally decides he might as well take a set point. After plenty of faffing around he converts at the 10th time of asking to win the first set 6-4 against the sprightly Jaume Munar on Centre Court. It’s an entertaining match and it wouldn’t be hugely surprising if Munar nicks a set.

Another seed bites the dust: Dusan Lajovic is out, beaten in four by Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. On Court 2 Caroline Wozniacki has arrived. The 14th seed takes on Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Does Kyle Edmund want to win the first set on Centre Court? I’ve lost track of how many set points he’s blown now. He needs to be careful here.

Daniil Medvedev, the 11th seed, will play Alex Popyrin in the second round after beating Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 7-6, 7-6. That should be tasty. Meanwhile Milos Raonic has seen off Pranjesh Gunneswaran, beating the Indian 7-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Venus Williams and Coco Gauff are underway on Court 1.

Serving to stay in the match, Tsitsipas lets the game run to 30-40, at which point he balloons a forehand long. Thomas Fabbiano gets there in the end, as I always knew he would. The world No89 has beaten the sixth seed, who hastily follows his bitter rival Alexander Zverev out the SW19 exit. This side of the draw suddenly looks rather open.

Right, Stefanos Tsitsipas might be about to lose. As, er, I predicted. Thomas Fabbiano leads 5-3 in the fifth set on Court 2. Tsitsipas is serving.

Naomi Osaka was so upset about her defeat to Yulia Putintseva that she had to cut her press conference short. Here’s an excerpt:

Q. Has it been difficult to get used to the new level of fame that you have? You’ve pretty much become a global superstar over the past few months.

NAOMI OSAKA: Can I leave? I feel like I’m about to cry.

From 0-2 down to 4-3 up. Things are going encouragingly for Kyle Edmund on a subdued Centre Court, where he leads by a break in the early knockings against Jaume Munar. You sense the crowd are yet to to fully take to young Kyle. They don’t get him yet. He’ll probably need to go on a run to make a name for himself here.

Okay, this one is legit. Down goes Alexander Zverev, a pretty lazy, conviction-free volley into the net summing up his afternoon. The sixth seed’s quest to make an impact at a grand slam goes on. He’s been well beaten by Jiri Vesely, a Czech qualifier who’s right to look very pleased with himself given all his recent bad luck with injuries.

View image in fullscreen

If you’re willing to believe anything I ever say again, trust me when I tell you Milos Raonic is now two sets up against Pranjesh Gunnerswaran. Meanwhile Guido Pella has beaten Marius Copil 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

I did wonder why they were showing endless highlights of Tsitsipas’s best shots on the Court 2 feed. Then I realised it was a fifth set. In my defence I’m sleep deprived. I should probably get a coffee.

Ignore that! I got distracted by Matthew Engel and misread the score. Stefanos Tstipas is not out. He’s into a fifth set with Thomas Fabbiano after winning the fourth-set tie-break. Sorry for prematurely penning your demise, Stefanos.

Stefanos Tsitsipas sees two set points come and go in the fourth-set tie-break. Thomas Fabbiano is quite the fighter. It’s 6-6 in the breaker.

Kyle Edmund and Jaume Munar have arrived on Centre Court. The British No1 has never played the 22-year-old Spaniard before.

Stefanos Tsitsipas holds for a tie-break. His hopes are still on the line.

Over on Court 2, Thomas Fabbiano is a game away from the second round. The Italian leads 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-5 against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will serve to stay in the tournament. Elsewhere Gael Monfils, the 16th seed, has won a first-set tie-break against fellow Frenchman Ugo Humbert. And if we’re talking tie-breaks we have to mention Milos Raonic, who’s won one against India’s Pranjesh Gunneswaran on Court 12. Raonic leads by a set and a break.

Speaking of feisty competitors, the spiky Danielle Collins is through to the second round. The unseeded American’s beaten Zarina Diyas 6-3, 7-5.