Wimbledon 2010 action: Federer’s Great Escape, Clijsters Comeback
While the focus remains in South Africa, the tennis world witnessed the start the most prestigious professional tennis tournament, Wimbledon at the All England Tennis Club in London.
The start of the event saw a great escape for arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer who came back from two sets down to record a stunning win against little known of, Columbian Alejandro Falla 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6 6-0.
The Swiss world number two seeking an incredible seventh men's singles title, showed his true mettle in the toughest opening match he has faced in a grand slam for many years.
At one stage he was down and out, as one of the greatest reversals in the opening round was almost etched.
The magnitude of the fight back can be gauged by the fact that Falla served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set.
The Colombian outsider produced an incredible display of fearless tennis that bewildered the fans as he produced one delightful volley after another mixed with some stunning winners from the baseline.
At this stage the Swiss maestro was down and out, before producing a master class performance that enhanced his reputation further as one of the greats of the game.
He recovered from the brink of elimination, when down 4-4 0-40 on his serve in the third set, to finally rediscover the touch that has made him the champion he is, before a stunned audience at the Centre Court crowd.
Federer stepped on the gas in no uncertain terms, wrapping up the fourth set tiebreak 7-1 before launching his game into top gear as he toyed with his South American opponent charging through the final set of the match.
The great rearguard action by the master helped him avoid the ignominy of being the first champion of the only grand slam to be played on grass, to fall at the first hurdle since Australian Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.
The remarkable comeback was a testament of the never say die attitude of the tennis great, yet at the same time it has given a feeler to rest of his opponents that he might be slacking a bit, and is perhaps not the threat he was a couple of years ago.
Meanwhile the drama on Center Court did take the gloss away from other performances of the opening day of the tournament.
Former world number one, Belgium’s Kim Clijsters was at her brilliant best, and found the grass of All England club to her liking once again registering a quick fire win over Italian Maria Elena Camerin, recording a 6-0 6-3 win. She quickly found her feet on grass as she eased into the second round at Wimbledon with an efficient 6-0 6-3 win over Italy's Maria Elena Camerin.
Playing competitively at the All England Club for the first since 2006, the Belgian eighth seed rattled off the first set in just 24 minutes in bright conditions on the opening day of the year's third grand slam.
Camerin, who suffered a sixth straight first-round defeat here, offered more resistance in the second set but was broken in game eight and a tame service return into the net ended her challenge. Clijster will be hoping that her form stays intact as she braces for tougher challenges in the next rounds.
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