The champion, barely alive…
Most people including the always outspoken John McEnroe have made little effort about hiding the fact that six-time champion Roger Federer is not the undisputed favourite going into his beloved tournament anymore. Not many though would have envisioned what transpired on the 1stday of the Championships. Back in 1986 and much recently, in 2003, the defending champions did lose early; Boris Becker lost to rookie Peter Doohan in the 2nd round and 17 seasons later, Lleyton Hewitt surrendered his title on the very first day of the tournament. Something similar very nearly happened, but then this was Roger Federer, arguably the finest exponent of the grass court game and indeed tennis overall. Thankfully for his fans, Federer is still alive at SW19 but only just managed to pull it out.
Federer on Day 1…
The Swiss came from two sets down to beat Columbian Alejandro Fella 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0. Significantly, the world no. 2 could have lost in straight sets when at 4-all in the 3rd set, he was down 0-40 on his serve. Then again in the 4th set, Fella at one point in time was serving for the match but on both occasions, the champion rose to the challenge and took the match to the decider where he bagelled his opponent. Federer next faces big-serving Ilija Bozoljac of Serbia.
Djokovic taken to 5 sets…
It seemed to be a day of ‘almost-there’ for two other underdogs. Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko were also stretched to five-setters with the Serbian’s match extending well into the late evening hours. Oliver Rochus who enjoys a good record against Djokovic looked to extend that but the superior ranked player eventually came from behind to win his match 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-2.
Davydenko emulates Federer…
Nikolay Davydenko’s match was running concurrently with that of Federer’s and co-incidentally, both the encounters took similar routes. Much like the top-seeded Swiss, Devydenko dropped the first two sets only to storm back to win his 1st round match in a tight five-setter; the final scoreline reading 3-6 6-7(3) 7-6(3) 7-5 9-7
Normalcy for the rest…
There were some easy wins recorded in the day as well. Andy Roddick won his match against countrymate Rajeev Ram 6-3 6-2 6-2 while another grass court specialist and 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt suffered a few anxious moments before eventually scoring a rather comfortable win over Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 5-7 6-0 6-2 6-2. Finalist at last week’s Queens American Mardy Fish also progressed as did compatriot Taylor Dent, Frenchman Gael Monfils and Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
Upsets…
In a day of marathon matches, there were bound to be some upsets. Federer’s good friend was not as lucky as the 20th seeded Stanislas Wawrinka went down in a nail biting encounter against Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin who won 6-7(5) 6-1 2-6 7-6(4) 6-3. Croatian and 17th seeded Ivan Ljubicic was another casualty as he went down in straight sets to Poland’s Michal Przysiezny 5-7 6-7(5) 3-6. Perhaps the biggest upset came in the form of another Croatian, 11th seeded Maran Cilic who lost in straight sets to German Florian Mayer. The 59th ranked player who’d reached the quarter-final in 2004 produced some of his best tennis to upset Cilic 6-2 6-4 7-6(1) in a surprisingly one-sided contest.
Upset at the Ladies’ end…
On the women’s front, there was one major upset as the reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was knocked out in the very 1st round. Russian Vera Dushevian, ranked 47 in the world, defeated Schiavone in a tight 3-setter 6-7(0) 7-5 6-1.
Williams, Henin, Clijsters, all through…
There were no problems for the other top players though as defending champion Venus Williams, 4th seeded Jelena Jankovic, and then the two Belgians, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, all wasted little time in progressing to the 2nd round. Williams defeated Paraguay’s Rossana De Los Rios 6-3 6-2 while Jankovic was made to work slightly harder in her 6-3 7-6(5) win over British hope Laura Robson. Kim Clijsters got the better of Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-0 6-3 while Henin, bidding to win the only Grand Slam to elude her scored a 6-4 6-3 facile win over Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. India’s Sania Mirza was however not lucky as her woeful form meant that she lost her 1st round match against Germany’s Angelique Kerber in straight sets, 4-6 1-6.
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