Bouchard knocked out in opening round of Wimbledon; Abanda moves on

Canada's Eugenie Bouchard returns to Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro during their Women's Singles Match on the opening day at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Adam Davy)

It was a mixed day for the Canadians on the opening day at Wimbledon while Venus Williams won her first match since being sued by the estate of a Florida man who died after a car crash police say she caused.

The 10th-seeded Williams beat Elise Mertens 7-6 (7), 6-4 Monday in the first round at the Grand Slam event, a tournament the American has won five times.

Last week, Williams was sued by the estate of a Florida man who died 13 days after a car crash. The lawsuit came one day after Palm Beach Gardens police released a report saying Williams caused the June 9 crash.

"There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating and ... yeah. I'm completely speechless," Williams said before tearing up.

Montreal's Francoise Abanda defeated Japan's Kurumi Nara 6-2, 6-4 and Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., dropped a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 decision to Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. Poland's Jerzy Janowicz defeated wild-card entry Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

On No. 1 Court, Williams had to wait through a 33-minute rain delay to win her opening match. She had two match points before the rain came. Play was stopped with Williams leading 5-3, 40-40 in the second set.

When play resumed, Mertens held serve to make it 5-4, but Williams served out the match.

Defending champion Andy Murray also won his opening match, beating Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

Murray entered the tournament after pulling out of a pair of exhibition matches because of a sore hip.

"I was a bit nervous this morning," Murray said. "I hadn't been able to do as much as I would have liked in the buildup."

Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion who was injured in a knife attack at her home in December, then beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court while Rafael Nadal defeated John Millman of Australia 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

Second-seeded Simona Halep and No. 17 Madison Keys also won. Halep, who lost in the French Open final, beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-4, 6-1. Keys defeated Nao Hibino of Japan 6-4, 6-2.

Keys, who is right-handed, was playing for the first time since having a second surgery on her left wrist.

"It's obviously not perfect," Keys said. "I haven't been able to do the repetitions that ideally I would have wanted to do, but it feels fine. Doesn't hurt anymore. That's really all I care about."

Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina and eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova also advanced.

In the men's draw, Nick Kyrgios retired from his first-round match after losing the first two sets.

The 20th-seeded Australian was trailing Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-3, 6-4 when he called for a trainer to work on his left hip. He then decided to stop the match.

Kyrgios also retired with an injury from his first-round match at Queen's, a Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

"I kind of knew I was in trouble. I have been feeling my hip ever since I fell over at Queen's. Never got it right," Kyrgios said. "I was doing everything I could to help it, but just not enough time."

Two-time semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also reached the second round. The 12th-seeded Frenchman beat Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Maric Cilic, ninth-seeded Kei Nishikori and 24th-seeded Sam Querrey also advanced.