It was a dream start for Italian tennis at Wimbledon, fueled by heroic, gritty comebacks from Matteo Berrettini and Jasmine Paolini. Berrettini outlasted tennis legend Stan Wawrinka in a grueling four-hour thriller, winning 3-1 through four consecutive tie-breaks (6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6), which featured a jaw-dropping 18-16 second-set tie-break. Jasmine Paolini pulled off a spectacular turnaround of her own; after a nightmare 0-6 opening set that lasted just half an hour, she bounced back to defeat American Robin Montgomery 0-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Elsewhere, Lorenzo Sonego advanced to the second round with a 3-1 victory over Argentina's Etcheverry. The biggest surprise of the day came from 18-year-old prodigy Tyra Caterina Grant, who stunned home favorite Katie Boulter with a flawless 6-4, 6-2 win. On a less fortunate note, Matteo Arnaldi was knocked out by France's Halys despite winning the first set. Meanwhile, Flavio Cobolli’s match against Mariano Navone was suspended due to darkness just as the Italian was leading 2-1.