Tennis: Wimbledon Update

After a rain affected Monday, the majority of first round matches were completed today with most of the top seeds in the men’s and women’s draw making it through to the second round. 15^th seed Jelena Jankovic and  10^th seed Sam Stosur were the two highest profile casualties, but neither were genuine contenders for the women’s title.

Serena Williams came through a tough three-set encounter with Aravane Rezai and, following some serious injuries and illnesses over the past year, was very emotional following the win. Serena required emergency surgery to remove blood clots in her lungs and there were fears for her life, let alone her tennis career. To come back from that and win a match at Centre Court so soon after brought more tears from Serena than have been seen following any of her Grand Slam victories.

Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki, both in the tougher top half of the women’s draw along with Serena, both laid down early markers as they cruised through their respective matches dropping only 3 games each.  3^rd seen Li Na and 4^th seed Victoria Azarenka also went through in straight sets, but there were tougher matches for 2^nd seed Vera Zvonereva, who required 3 sets to beat the unseeded Alison Riske, and French Open runner-up, Francesca Schiavone, who completed her 3 set victory over Jelena Dokic under the Centre Court roof on Monday.

Andy Murray was the other beneficiary of the roof as, whilst play was suspended on all other courts, he was able to defeat Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Despite dropping the first set, Murray won in convincing style, winning the final 15 games of the match. There were no difficulties for the other members of the ‘big four’ as Federer, Djokovic and Nadal all progressed to the second round at a canter.

There were in fact no casualties amongst the top 20 male seeds, although both Halle finalists, Phillips Kohlschreiber and Petzschner, went out, whilst John Isner was again victorious over Nicholas Mahut in a rematch of last year’s three-day marathon match. This time the match was wrapped up in one day and only required the three sets.

Wednesday’s schedule of play sees Venus Williams, Nadal and Roddick playing their second round matches on Centre Court, whilst Berdych and Murray play on Court One. Brit fans will also be able to see home favourite Anne Keothavong take on 8^th seed Petra Kvitova on Court One.  Elsewhere, British youngsters Heather Watson and Laura Robson will be playing their first round matches (on Courts 3 and 18 respectively).

Of the outside courts, Court 12 looks the most appealing with Richard Gasquet, Fernando Verdasco, Victoria Azarenka and former US Open semi-finalist, Yanina Wickmayer, all slated to play

Akbar Shah