Kimiko Date-Krumm beats Katie O’Brien in the opening round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
World number 57, Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan moved into the second round of Wimbledon Championships as she scored her first round victory against Katie O’Brien of Great Britain
here on Monday.
The Japanese tennis player built a 6-0 advantage before squandering her first game in the second set. After leading 6-5 in the second set, Date-Krumm snagged an insurance
break on a trademark forehand winner to close out the match taking 64 minutes of play.
The 40-year-old Japanese forged an early lead, and despite allowing some break points to O’Brien, Date-Krumm looked surprisingly comfortable. The unseeded Japanese was displaying
excellent composure and explosive tennis at the right moments, with a knifed passing shot, and simply incredible forehand winner, she managed to clinch the first set with a bagel.
As the second set started, O’Brien seemed to lift her tennis up a notch, and Date-Krumm had to control her so that she could not grab any early advantage. The Japanese did
not lose her head and kept controlling her emotions. Her Brit opponent, O’Brien was playing poor on big points, and even when the Brit did step up and swing at the ball on break point, she was missing, and as the critical break chance flew off, Date-Krum’s
confidence grew enormously.
The Japanese tennis ace wrapped up her straight sets effort with a single ace and a whopping eighteen winners. No to mention she managed to win 68 percent of points on her
first serve, 38 percent on her second serve and a total of 37 of 62 on return. In contrast, O’Brien finished off the match with a meager 46 percent on her first serve, a poor 30 percent behind her second serve and 38 percent on return.
The Japanese player will be delighted with the results and she well derived her second victory against the Brit, having hit some fine winners over the course of the match.
However, the Brit will be disappointed with her own lack of consistency and drive that saw him make a number of sloppy mistakes.
With this win, the Japanese woman has extended her year-to-date win-loss mark to 7-16 matches and now moves on ahead to face Serena Williams of America in the second round.
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