The last Argentine singles player departed Wimbledon on Wednesday when Solana Sierra fell to Coco Gauff in a tense third-round tiebreak, completing a historic wipeout for the South American nation. Hours earlier, Mariano Navone’s four-set loss to Italy’s Flavio Cobolli had sealed the fate of the men’s contingent: all nine who entered the main draw were beaten in the first round, a collective failure not seen since 2010. The double blow left the All England Club without an Argentine in the second week of singles for the first time in 16 years.

Navone’s defeat, which began on Tuesday and was suspended by darkness, resumed with Cobolli leading two sets to one. The Italian, a recent Roland Garros finalist, closed out a 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-6(8) victory after three hours and 27 minutes, admitting he had felt “nervous” and far from his best on a surface he has barely played this season. The result compounded a dismal opening two days for Argentine tennis. Francisco Cerúndolo, seeded 18th and fresh from winning the Queen’s Club title, was routed in straight sets by Spain’s Jaume Munar. Tomás Etcheverry, the 29th seed, lost a four-hour battle to Lorenzo Sonego. Román Burruchaga, making his main-draw debut, could not sustain an early lead against Alex de Miñaur. Five others fell on Monday, including Sebastián Báez and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo.

Sierra, the world No 56, had provided the lone bright spot by winning her opening match, but against the seventh-seeded Gauff she came within two points of a major upset. Serving for the match at 5-4 in the decider, the 22-year-old double-faulted, and later led 7-4 in the match tiebreak before Gauff reeled off six consecutive points. The American’s backhand volley at 7-7, struck deep into the open court after a scrambling retrieval, proved the turning point. “I was just happy and proud of myself,” Gauff said on court, acknowledging she had been forced onto the defensive for long stretches. American observers noted that Gauff, who has never passed the fourth round at Wimbledon, again looked uncomfortable on grass, but her serve — including a 124 mph ace at a critical moment — ultimately held up.

Argentine media described the men’s first-round sweep as a “debacle” and a “negative record”, pointing to the chronic difficulty clay-court specialists face in adapting to the low, skidding bounce of Wimbledon’s turf. The 2010 edition, when five Argentine men lost in the opening round and Juan Martín del Potro was absent through injury, had stood as the modern low-water mark. This year’s larger delegation — the biggest since 2009 — only deepened the sense of regression. The memory of David Nalbandian’s run to the 2002 final, a feat that defied surface logic, now feels distant. Italian reports, meanwhile, focused on Cobolli’s resilience and his second-round meeting with Australia’s James Duckworth.

With Sierra’s exit, the Argentine challenge shifts entirely to the doubles draws, where several men remain in contention. Gauff advances to face an unseeded opponent in the third round, still searching for the consistency that has eluded her on grass. For Argentina, the immediate task is to understand why a generation raised on red clay continues to find the green lawns of SW19 an insurmountable barrier.