TENNIS – The opening day of Wimbledon saw a lot of ladies action. There were no major upsets as top favourites and former champions here Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova had very light workouts. Cordell Hackshaw
USUAL SUSPECTS
Serena Williams (1) opened her campaign for a second “Serena Slam” (winning 4 majors in a row) and the third leg for a first “Grand Slam” (winning all 4 majors in the calendar year) got off to a sloppy start. An erratic Williams started off the match down 0-2 against Russian Margarita Gasparyan. The Russian continuously unleashed a nice one-handed backhand which is extremely rare on the ladies’ tour these days. Williams was able to hold serve with confidence for 1-2 however, it was clear that Gasparyan was ready for the challenge of defeating the number 1 player in the world. Williams had several break points to level set early but she missed them badly with poor errors. Gasparyan held serve for 3-1 and secured herself a break point to go up 4-1. It was at this point that Williams fully realized the urgency of situation. With some quick big serves, Williams was able to erase her problems for 2-3. Williams then wrest control of the match to break for 3-3 and then break again in the 10th game for 6-4.
Williams carried this momentum into the 2nd set as she raced out to a 3-1 lead. However, Gasparyan found herself with triple break points but could not convert any of them. Williams held and broke the Russian again for 5-1. With a smash winner, Williams moved into the 2nd round 6-4 6-1. Williams would later state that though she expected Gasparyan to be good, she did not expect her to be this good.
Victoria Azarenka (23) was the first player through to the 2nd round of Wimbledon with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Azarenka did not play this event last year and has struggled at this event though she made it to the semifinals back in 2012 and won the bronze medal at the Olympics here. Both times she lost to Serena Williams. This is a really good start for the Belarusian who is trying to work her way back to major form after an injury plagued 2014.
Maria Sharapova (4) v Johanna Konta The young Brit had a break point in the opening game of the match. However, Sharapova was not about to let a young upstart dash her hopes of a second Wimbledon title. Konta failed to break the Sharapova serve and it was a routine victory for the Russian 6-2 6-2. Sharapova will face Richel Hogenkamp for a place in the 3rd round. Also having an easy day at the office was 5-time champion Venus Williams (16) who took out fellow American Madison Brengle 6-0 6-0 in 42 minutes. Also winning without dropping a game was Andrea Petkovic (14) with a 6-0 6-0 routing of another American Shelby Rogers. Williams would take on Yulia Putinseva in the next round. Petkovic will face Mariana Duque-Marino. Ana Ivanovic (7) won comfortably on the day 6-1 6-1 over China’s Yi Xu.
SURPRISES
Several seeded players found themselves in unexpected battles in their opening round matches. This year’s French Open finalist, Lucie Safarova (6) had to play 3 sets to get past American Alison Riske 3-6 7-5 6-3. Riske served for the match up 5-4 in the 2nd set but Safarova broke twice to take the set and push to a decider. In the 3rd set, Riske went up 2-0 but was unable to maintain the momentum. She lost 6 of the next 7 games. Fellow Czech, Karolina Pliskova (11) also had a tough time again an American, Irina Falconi, 6-4 4-6 6-1. Sara Errani (19) had to deal with fellow Italian Francesca Schiavone unrelentingly fighting spirit. Schiavone won 4 straight games in the 2nd set down 3-5 to take it to the 3rd. However, she could not keep up with the will of Errani who won 6-2 5-7 6-1. Belinda Bencic (30) fresh off her first WTA title in Eastbourne had to deal with the dangerous floater that is Tsetvana Pironkova. However, the Swiss player held her nerves to take it in three sets 3-6 6-1 6-3. Perhaps not surprising but more so interesting is the fact that Daniela Hantuchova easily dismissed Dominika Cibulkova 7-5 6-0. Cibulkova recently returned to the game after surgery but it was nonetheless a shocking loss.
UPSETS
Carla Suarez Narravo (9) was the biggest upset of the day as she was completely dismantled by the 2014 Junior Wimbledon Champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Suarez-Narravo just never looked comfortable in the match as she was outplayed from almost the first ball. The Spaniard had only had 1 winner compared to 30 from Ostapenko and was only able to break once in the entire match. She was only able to win 37% of the points on her 1st serve compared to 91% from the Latvian. Thus this encounter was a quick one as Ostapenko took it 6-2 6-0 in 53 minutes. She will face Kristina Mladenovic who took out Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2 6-1.
Flavia Pennetta (24) was another nearly casualty of the Championships. She spilt the opening sets with Zarina Diyas to force a decider. However, Diyas got out to a 4-0 lead in the 3rd set, a lead to great for Pennetta to recover. The Italian was able to claw her way back into the match and got one of the breaks back for 3-4. Diyas played aggressive on the big points to prevent another break and given Pennetta a real shot of regaining control. Serving for the match up 5-4, Diyas mixed it up, with some very aggressive serving and soon earned 2 match points. Pennetta saved one of the match points. Diyas double faulted on the 2nd one for deuce. Pennetta thought she had a winner for break point but the forehand was wide. She was unable to challenge as there is no players’ review on Court 10. Diyas with a third match point held her nerve and it was Pennetta who faltered as her shot went into the net. Diyas through 6-3 2-6 6-4.
OTHER WINNERS
Several Americans made it through to the 2nd round of Wimbledon: Lauren Davis, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Coco Vandeweghe and Sloane Stephens who upset 27th seed and last year’s quarterfinalist, Barbora Strycova 6-4 6-4. Sam Stosur (22) also made light work of her opponent as she won in straight sets as did Urszula Radwanska and Irina Begu (29). Heather Watson took out Caroline Garcia (32) 1-6 6-3 8-6 over the course of two days. The match was suspended because of poor lighting on the opening day. It concluded on Day 2.
