Wimbledon 2010: seeds tumble out on day two
Lawn tennis is considered the playground for some of the playing elite, however for some it becomes just a dream gone sour. On one hand loud cheers and applause followed the success of the top seeds, moans and groans could be heard at the loss of some other stars. Every day at the All England Club provides some winner and some losers as well. It is never a smooth sailing ride.
The seeds that crashed out of the tournament on day two included Fernando Verdasco, Marcos Baghdatis, Sam Stosur, Juan Carlo Ferrrero and James Blake. Expectations were riding high on these players, especially Stosur who had a good run at the French Open, however none of them could come up to the mark. Hence they will soon be riding on a plane back to their hometowns.
Two high ranked Spaniards were listed on the schedule today. Unfortunately, only one went through. Eighth seed Fernando Verdasco just could not emulate the greatness of his compatriot Rafael Nadal, and bowed out to world number eighty Fabio Fognini. It was the final match of the day on Court 12 and it turned out to be the last game for Verdasco. Never before in a major tournament had Fognini ever defeated a top ten player. But it seemed to be his lucky day as Verdasco’s game was not at par. Taking advantage of the situation at hand Fognini threw Verdasco out of the tournament 7-6,6-2,6-7,6-4. Both players played well in the first set, with it going to a tie break and Fognini taking advantage of a missed chance. However, the difference between the quality of tennis became very evident in the second set, with Verdasco unable to turn in any shots into points. In just one set Verdasco had committed nineteen unforced errors compared with his opponent’s two. All was going wrong for Verdasco as his serve was letting him down as well. It seemed as if it was the underdog that became the dominant force in the match. Verdasco’s form had come into question as he had not played any warm up game on grass before coming into Wimbledon. That could possibly be why he was unable to cope with the slipperiness of the surface. Verdasco could have pulled a comeback after taking the third set, but it seemed highly unlikely. The fourth set went to Fognini and so did the match. Verdasco was only left with poor memories of the game.
One would have thought winning the best game of his career would have had a solid impact on Marcos Baghdatis, but that was not the case. Earlier this year, Baghdatis beat Roger Federer at Indian Wells, but somehow could not recreate the same magic on grass. It was a battle of baseline play on Court 5, which Baghdatis lost to Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-3,2-6,6-3,6-1. Baghdatis just seemed to crumble as the Slovakian asserted pressure on him. Lacko took the first set with relative ease, leaving Baghdatis to ponder on his performance. It seemed as if the thinking may have worked as he broke Lacko in his first game and went on the win the second set. But from then on, Lacko did not let any chance slip by. He broke Baghdatis in the eighth game of the third set and then it was all over. The opening game of the fourth set went to Lacko as well and with that the match. Baghdatis will now have to come back next year to improve his record at Wimbledon.
A surprise exit in the women’s draw was French Open finalist Sam Stosur. Her impeccable form in Paris earned her a final spot, but it seemed as if she could not continue that winning streak on grass. With that loss, both French Open finalists have been shown the door. Australian Stosur lost to qualifier Kaia Kanepi from Estonia in straight sets 6-4,6-4. Kanepi has the French Open finalist packing her bags in an hour and twenty one minutes.
It seems as if Wimbledon is becoming the test for the survival of the fittest. With each passing day, seeds seem to be crumbling. It would be a sight to see who joins this dreaded list on Day 3.
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