<figure id="attachment_3098250" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3098250" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3098250" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/a10b7f1f-jessica-pegula-ap-010725.webp" alt="Jessica Pegula AP 010725" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3098250" class="wp-caption-text">Jessica Pegula played with heavy strapping on her knee and looked uncomfortable throughout the match. (AP pic)</figcaption></figure>
LONDON: American third seed Jessica Pegula admitted her shock straight-sets defeat against Italy&#8217;s Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the Wimbledon first round was her &#8220;worst result of the year&#8221;.
Pegula was demolished 6-2, 6-3 by the world No 116 in just 58 minutes on Court 2 today.
It was a bitter blow for the 2024 US Open finalist, who has never been past the quarter-finals at the All England Club.
The 31-year-old played with heavy strapping on her right knee and never looked comfortable in a lacklustre performance.
&#8220;She played incredible tennis. Do I think I played the best match ever? No. But I wasn&#8217;t that bad. It was just her day today,&#8221; Pegula said.
&#8220;I think I could have served better but I was having trouble with the conditions. It was very humid and the court was slow.
&#8220;I tried my best to match her level and I thought I would close the gap in the second set. But she didn&#8217;t drop her level at all. She was forcing a lot of my errors.&#8221;
Since losing last year&#8217;s US Open final against Aryna Sabalenka, world No 3 Pegula has been eliminated before the quarter-finals in all three of her Grand Slam appearances.
&#8220;It&#8217;s probably the worst result I&#8217;ve had all year. I haven&#8217;t lost in the first round of a Slam for a long time. That sucks,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m playing as well as I was at the end of last year. But it&#8217;s hard to put it all together over two weeks. Sometimes it doesn&#8217;t align.
&#8220;I managing the knee and I have a bit of a neck injury as well. But I feel good overall. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s disappointing.
&#8220;The most frustrating thing was I wasn&#8217;t able to figure it out, which I feel I should be able to.&#8221;
It was only Cocciaretto&#8217;s second win against a top 10 player.
The 24-year-old has never been past the third round at Wimbledon and her best Grand Slam performance was a run to the last 16 at last year&#8217;s French Open.

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