Kevin Anderson strains pass Illya Marchenko to reach the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Winner of the South African Open this year, Kevin Anderson continued his impressive run at Wimbledon Championships by defeating the unseeded Ukrainian, Illya Marchenko in the opening round clash on Wednesday.
The enthralling five-setter continued for almost four hours, with the score finally settling at 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in favour of Anderson, who advances to the second round of the Grand Slam tournament.
The four-hour marathon contest was a real test of steely nerves and resilience for both contestants, with Anderson winning the battle at the end. Highly intense tennis was witnessed in the opening two sets of the match, both finishing
in the tie breaker rounds, but Marchenko gradually lost his steam as the game progressed.
There were no great differences in the overall match statics of the two players, as the contest remained evenly poised throughout with a number of momentum swings being seen. Anderson’s serve proved to be the critical success factor
for his victory, as he delivered 74 per cent of first serve on target and fired 18 cracking aces in the matchup.
Marchenko has already played against the South African in singles encounter last year, when he suffered a straight sets defeat in Los Angeles. Anderson registered his 23rd singles victory of the running ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) season and improved his head-to-head record against the Ukrainian to 2-0.
Rated at number 114 in world rankings, Marchenko hung in the contest of most of the time and gave some really tough time to his opponent before he eventually run out of steam in the fifth set. The Ukrainian had a brilliant start
to the contest and showed his aggressive intent in the opening set by belting a number of elegant cross-court winners. Both contestants failed to break the opponent’s serve and a tie breaker was eventually enforced, which Marchenko took at 7-6(5), after a
stiff fight.
Anderson bounced back in the second set, taking down the Ukrainian this time round in the tie breaker round to level the contest with one set a piece. The following two sets were divided among the two men, dragging the contest
into a decisive fifth set. Marchenko appeared exhausted in the fifth set and went through a poor slump to surrender the game to Anderson at 1-6, allowing him a pass to the second round of Wimbledon.
Anderson will now take on the world number two, Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the next stage of the tournament. Djokovic eased his way through the first round by defeating Jeremy Chardy of France in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, to
meet Anderson.
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