Wimbledon Briefing - US & Canadian Results: Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe brings first American victories

Wimbledon is just getting started with the first round of the men's and women's draws, and the first victories for American players are already in. Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys led the opening half of the day, both securing wins to begin their All England Club journeys on a positive note.

They were joined by Learner Tien, who defeated Nishesh Basavareddy in a battle between two of the most exciting young American talents on tour. On the other hand, the first defeats came with Bernarda Pera and Peyton Stearns exiting in their debuts.

Big-Foe easy past rising Danish Elmer Moller

It wasn’t a particularly complicated day for Tiafoe, who stayed in control from start to finish and never faced serious trouble against the 21-year-old Elmer Møller, making only his second Grand Slam main draw appearance. The Danish player struggled heavily with his serve, landing just 41% of first serves and committing 13 double faults—mistakes that ultimately cost him the match.

Tiafoe, meanwhile, was nearly flawless with his first serve, landing 88% and converting 6 of 11 break point opportunities. He only gave up one break in two chances for his opponent. The World No. 12 has reached at least the third round in each of the past four Wimbledon editions and will now face home favourite Cameron Norrie in the next round.

Hard-fought victory for Keys

Madison Keys salvaged a hard-fought victory against Romania's Elena Gabriela Ruse in a three-set battle lasting over two hours and 40 minutes. The world No. 8 began with a more complicated challenge than expected but managed to seal the win by 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5. The Australian Open champion maintains her perfect record in Wimbledon first rounds and reaches the second round for the 11th consecutive time.

The 30-year-old American stayed ahead for much of the match – despite a less than stellar serve, with 58% first serves in and winning 57% of those. However, unforced errors at times proved costly and allowed Ruse to come back in each set, putting Keys in trouble until the final stretch. Keys avoided a surprise upset and will face the talented Serbian Olga Danilovic in the second round – who comfortably defeated Shuai Zhang in her debut.

Fritz match suspended by Wimbledon curfew

Taylor Fritz's match was suspended by the Wimbledon curfew just as he was preparing to play the 5th set against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. It was a tight match where Fritz came back from two sets down, keeping alive hopes of a victory by taking it to a decisive fifth set. However, with the local time reaching 11:00 PM – the agreed-upon curfew – the chair umpire decided to suspend the match until Tuesday.

Fritz fell behind by fine margins, losing two tight tie-breaks in the first two sets: 7-6(8-6), 7-6(10-8), wasting a total of seven set points across both sets. Nevertheless, he managed an almost miraculous recovery, taking the next two sets 6-4, 7-6(8-6) in favor of the American. The match will resume with the 5th set on Tuesday afternoon.