Wimbledon star who went viral for unusual face tattoos loses 6-0 6-0 in 40 minutes | Tennis | Sport


Oleksandra Oliynykova suffered a bruising 6-0 6-0 defeat on her Wimbledon debut, spending just 40 minutes on the court before she was sent packing. The Ukrainian world No. 53 has enjoyed a breakthrough season, making the third round of the French Open and reaching the semi-finals in Cluj, where she lost to Emma Raducanu.

Oliynykova has become a familiar face on the tour, going viral for her unusual face tattoos, which are stickers she changes depending on the tournament or her kit. She took to Court 5 with more patches on her face. But the 25-year-old was ‘double bagelled’ by McCartney Kessler, barely winning a point in her first-ever match at the All England Club.

This was the Ukrainian’s first tour-level match on grass. She lost in Eastbourne qualifying last week and also crashed out in Wimbledon qualifying last summer. But she struggled to find her feet on the lawn, while Kessler came into the tournament full of form after reaching the Eastbourne quarter-finals.

The world No. 57 seemed to pick up right where she left off on the south coast, racing through the first set in just 18 minutes and hitting four winners to nine from Oliynykova.

And it was the same story in the second set. The Wimbledon debutant never had a game point throughout the 40-minute match and was broken a total of six times by the end of it – three in each set.

She won only 19 points in the match, while Kessler won 51. Oliynykova also finished with 15 unforced errors to five winners, while the American had a positive record of eight unforced errors to 18 winners.

This was Kessler’s first-ever win at Wimbledon, and she sealed victory in statement fashion. But things won’t get any easier for the 26-year-old, who has set up a second-round meeting with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

It’s back to the drawing board for Oliynykova, who has had a disappointing grass season off the back of her run to the third round of the French Open last month – her best-ever showing at a Grand Slam tournament.

The double-bagel defeat comes just days after Oliynykova lost to British wildcard Sofia Johnson in the first round of Eastbourne qualifying. The world No. 556 got a wildcard into the preliminary event and earned by far the biggest win of her career over the Ukrainian star 6-0 6-2.



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