Serena Williams topples Barbora Zahlavova Strycova to reach the second round – Wimbledon 2012
Former world number one, Serena Williams, had a thumping start to her Wimbledon Championships campaign by beating the 62nd ranked Czech starlet, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, in the opening round brawl on Tuesday. The
sixth ranked American powerhouse had rare troubles to register a straight sets victory, finishing at 6-2, 6-4, in an emphatic fashion.
Winner of four Wimbledon singles crowns, Serena faced some late resistance from Strycova but her pin-point hitting proved too good for the unseeded opponent. The Czech took her time to get settled in the contest and by the time
she got her eye in, the sixth seed opponent had the opening set in her bag. Strycova tried to make a comeback in the contest with some crafty game play in the following set and secured four games to drag the match a bit. However, Serena was too strong for
her and Strycova had to surrender in the second set of the match to finish her Grand Slam voyage in a dismal manner.
"It was a different role today - I don't think I was a counterpuncher by any means, but she was being really aggressive and hitting lots of drop shots and coming to the net," Serena said. "It was good. If I ever play anyone else
like that in the tournament, this was a good opportunity to get practice."
The world number six delivered 68 per cent of her first serve on target, winning 22 out of 34 points on it and breaking her opponent’s serve six out of 12 times en route to victory.
The American is playing her first grass court tournament of the running season and is still rated as one of the hot favourites for winning the Grand Slam title. She has been fighting valiantly with her physical fitness during the
last two years but her command over the game of tennis makes her one of the most feared opponents on any surface.
"From Paris I learned that you have to keep going,” she added, “I was playing excellent before Paris. I'd felt that good before going into a Grand Slam, but not in a long time. So I was disappointed - obviously I was extremely
disappointed. But as you know, as Kelly Clarkson says, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”
She will square off against the Hungarian qualifier, Melinda Czink, in the second round of the tournament later this week.
Tags: