Boisson tests Rybakina, who wins in three sets

At Wimbledon, the season's third Grand Slam, second seed and former champion Elena Rybakina made a tougher start than expected. The Kazakh beat her first-round opponent, France's Lois Boisson, in three sets to book her place in the second round. The match on No. 1 Court lasted one hour and 49 minutes.

Taking control at the start of the match, Rybakina went ahead by winning the first set 6-4. But the flow of the match changed unexpectedly in the second set. Losing her rhythm, partly due to a rising number of errors in her game, the Kazakh handed the second set to her opponent by a clear 1-6, and the match went to a third set.

Managing to recover in the decider, the former champion brought her quality to the court at the key moments. Rybakina broke her opponent's serve to move ahead and won the final set 6-3 to close out the match. The resistance of Boisson, who was making her Wimbledon debut and had stood out with surprise runs of late, could only be broken in the third set.

With this result, Elena Rybakina continued her path in the tournament after a tough test. Getting past the first round was important for the Kazakh, whose grass-court form has been up and down; moreover, she has a mathematical chance at the World No. 1 ranking at this tournament. Rybakina's second-round opponent and how her recovery curve develops will be one of the closely followed storylines of the grass-court season.

Match by the numbers: Winners 9-34, unforced errors 14-35, break points won 2/8-2/10, first-serve points won 76%-79%, second-serve points won 47%-51%. Set scores: 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Image: BBC