There were many other intriguing clashes during the opening two days of the men’s draw. The main contenders for the title all breezed through with comparative ease, but elsewhere there were some jittery moments. 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych faced a potential banana-skin tie against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who had reached the fourth round last time around at the All England Club. The Czech may have felt that he was in for a comfortable afternoon after taking the first set 6-2. However, Chardy did not rest and restored parity after a thrilling second-set tie-break, which ended 10-8 in his favour. That set would set the tone for the rest of the match, but from then on it was Berdych who enjoyed success in the breakers, eventually coming through in four sets. That win has set up a clash with Nicolas Mahut, who was on the losing end of the longest Grand Slam match in history.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had an even tougher battle against Gilles Muller, who took a set off Andy Murray at Queen’s recently. After being pegged back twice, Tsonga eventually prevailed, largely due to his high conversion of first serves and unusually low unforced error count (just 19 in five sets).
The conqueror of Roger Federer at The Championships in 2013, Sergiy Stakhovsky, met his match in the form of Croatian hotshot Borna Coric. Coric has been a revelation this season, and, at just 18, recently reached his highest-ever ranking of No.39 in the world. It was a see-saw encounter right the way through, but eventually youth prevailed over experience, with Coric winning the deciding set 9-7.
Kei Nishikori is one of a number of players who could develop into a multiple Grand –Slam winner, but he was almost dumped out at the first hurdle by Simone Bolelli. He squandered the lead twice, and was bothered by a calf problem in the latter stages. Despite these setbacks, he came out on top, choosing to adopt a more direct style as the injury hampered his movement. He has since been forced to withdraw from the tournament.
However, arguably the most dramatic match of the opening few days involved Jarkko Nieminen and Lleyton Hewitt. The match was fraught with emotion, with the knowledge that whoever lost the match would be waving goodbye to SW19 for good (as a singles player at least). Both men rose to the occasion and produced an enthralling spectacle. It all boiled down to a final-set struggle. The noisy Australian contingent were giving characteristically raucous and amusing backing to their player, and Hewitt kept delivering for them, coming out on top. The set was filled with breaks of serve as both players felt the pressure. However, the 2002 Wimbledon Champion eventually buckled to bow out for the final time.
With James Ward, Aljaz Bedene and Andy Murray still in the draw, British men’s tennis seems to be in rude health.
On the women’s side, Caroline Wozniacki was initially in a bit of a pickle against the relative unknown Saisai Zheng. However, she upped her game and ultimately proved too strong for her Chinese opponent, winning 7-5, 6-0.
Two other highly-seeded were not so lucky. Simona Halep, the third seed, reached the semi-final stage at last year’s championships, and she got off to a good start against Slovakian Jana Cepelova, taking the first set 7-5. However, her unfancied opponent found another level and put renewed pressure on the Romanian, converting two-thirds of her break-points to wrap up a memorable win.
Eugenie Bouchard, deemed by many to be a potential World No.1, saw her Wimbledon challenge derailed by Ying-Ying Duan. The Canadian has had a torrid year, with a host of early exits on the tour. Yesterday was no exception, as she was downed 7-6, 6-4 by the World No.117, who won an impressive 80% of points on her own first serve.
The first-round draw brought up a number of thrashings. One of those was Petra Kvitova, who began the defence of her title in menacing fashion, and sewing up a crushing 6-1, 6-0 triumph. Incredibly, she only dropped one point on her serve. Andrea Petkovic, Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams all subjected their opponents to the humiliation of a ‘double-bagel’, each going through 6-0, 6-0. Venus’ sister Serena initially found the going tough against qualifier Ana Gasparyan. The rookie could not maintain her form for the whole match however, and Serena’s championship pedigree shone through, as she outclassed her less experienced opponent 6-4, 6-1.
Recent French Open finalist Lucie Safarova faced a dangerous opponent in American Alison Riske, and only just about squaked through in three sets (in no small part due to her 10 aces).
Former Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Champion Jelena Jankovic has never really recaptured the form that she had pre-2010, and she was involved in one of the matches of the round against Elena Vesnina, defeating her Russian opponent 6-4, 3-6, 10-8.
Finally, one for the future. Belinda Bencic came into this tournament off the back of her first WTA World Tour Title. Despite being just 18, she could make a big impression and test some of the established big names in the latter stages.
Laura Robson was never likely to be in the best of shape having come off the back of a 17-month injury lay-off. She did put in a valiant display, and caused Evegeniya Rodina some problems. However, it was not enough to stop her falling to a 6-4, 6-4 loss. Additional early exits by Naomi Broady and Johanna Konta means all the pressure rests on Heather Watson. However, she has shown that, out of all the British girls, she is the one who is most likely to excel in these types of events.
The fortnight has started with plenty of drama, and that is set to continue.
Seeded players to be eliminated in the first round:
Men: Pablo Cuevas [28], Guillermo Garcia-Lopez [29], Jack Sock [31], Tommy Robredo [19]
Women: Simona Halep [3], Carla Suarez Navarro [9], Eugenie Bouchard [12], Flavia Pennetta [24], Barbora Strycova [27], Caroline Garcia [32]
Featured image: abc.net.au