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As we enter the second round of Wimbledon there are a lot of talking points to come out of the opening two days of this year’s tournament.
No Djoking around on Day 1 as Hewitt’s Wimbledon ride ends
As is the convention for the men’s defending champion, world number one Novak Djokovic opened play on Centre Court on Monday and started his bid for a third Wimbledon crown with a straight-sets dismissal of German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
It was the Djoker’s first competitive match since losing to Stan Wawrinka, whom he could face in the semi-finals at the All England Club, in the French Open final, in a result which thwarted his bid to complete his Grand Slam set.
Djokovic will next face Jarkko Nieminen after the Finnish veteran edged out 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt in a five-set classic to defeat him for the first time in six attempts.
Hewitt’s defeat drew the curtain on his Wimbledon career, which of course included winning the title in 2002. In typical fashion, he bowed out doing what he loved best – fighting hard and showing why he was once dubbed “the king of five-set tennis”.
Frustratingly, though, it was his sixth five-set defeat in his last nine Grand Slam outings, and it denied the 34-year-old, who will retire after next year’s Australian Open, a crack at Novak Djokovic in the second round.
It was better news for his two younger compatriots, with Nick Kyrgios defeating Diego Schwartzman in his first round match in straight sets while Bernard Tomic required five to defeat German Jan Lennard-Struff.
Kyrgios, who lost to Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals after upsetting then-world number one Rafael Nadal en route, could face the Canadian again, this time in the third round, if he defeats Juan Monaco in the second round as expected.
Tomic, on the other hand, will also start favourite to defeat French qualifier Pierre Hugues Herbert with the lure of facing Djokovic in the third round playing on his mind.
Other Day 1 winners included recent French Open champion Stan Wawrinka, reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic, fifth seed Kei Nishikori, last year’s semi-finalists Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic, and German veteran Tommy Haas.
Williams sisters on track for fourth round showdown
Tennis’ biggest sisterly rivalry could resume in the fourth round if world number one Serena and five-time champion Venus continue on their winning ways this week.
Despite some wobbles in the first set, top seed Serena, who is chasing a second non-calendar Grand Slam at the All England Club, did what was required of her and that was defeat Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan in straight sets.
Her next opponent is Hungarian Timea Babos, after which she could face local favourite Heather Watson or Slovak veteran Daniela Hantuchova before her potential appointment with older sister Venus in the Round of 16.
The 35-year-old, who last won the title in 2008 (beating Serena in the final), opened her campaign by handing compatriot Madison Brengle a humiliating 6-0, 6-0 defeat. Next for Venus is Yulia Putintseva, before a possible third round showdown against Sara Errani, whom she defeated in the first round of the 2012 Olympics, looms.
Other notable female winners on Day 1 included former Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic, recent French Open finalist Lucie Safarova, and promising Swiss Belinda Bencic.
Bencic, who won the juniors title in 2013, could face seventh seed Ivanovic in the third round if both win their respective second round matches against Anna-Lena Friedsam and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Australian veteran Samantha Stosur also progressed, but recent import Daria Gavrilova crashed out in straight sets to Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
Kvitova opens title defence with near-flawless display as Halep and Bouchard crash out; Federer, Nadal and Murray also progress
Like her defending men’s counterpart, world number two Petra Kvitova wasted little time settling into her Wimbledon title defence, dropping just one point on serve as she dismissed the Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens in straight sets.
The Czech’s form so far this year has been inconsistent, failing to reach the quarter-finals at either the Australian or French Opens, but she did inflict Serena Williams’ first defeat of the season en route to winning Madrid in May.
However, it has been a tradition for the 25-year-old left-hander to perform well at the All England Club, where her path to the final got a whole lot easier with Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard both crashing out in the opening round.
Halep, who reached the semi-finals last year but hasn’t been that far at any Grand Slam tournament since, blew a one-set lead to go down to Slovak Jana Cepelova, while Bouchard, who entered the tournament under an injury cloud, was stunned in straight sets by Chinese qualifier Duan Yingying.
The defeats by both women will cause serious ramifications as far as the world rankings are concerned; Halep could drop to at least fourth in the world depending on how Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki fare, while Bouchard will drop out of the top 20 when the rankings are updated on July 13.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, Australian pair Casey Dellacqua and Ajla Tomljanovic and former finalists Agnieszka Radwanska and Sabine Lisicki were also among the notable Day 2 winners.
Among the men, former champions Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray won their respective opening matches without the loss of a set between them, but French favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was forced to go the distance against Gilles Muller before eventually winning in five sets.
Australian housemates Sam Groth and James Duckworth set up an enticing second round showdown against each other after defeating Jack Sock and Malek Jaziri in their respective first round matches.
The winner of this All-Australian tie could face second seed Federer in round three, provided the Swiss defeats Sam Querrey in his second match. Sixth seed Tomas Berdych and French showman Gael Monfils also progressed.
That’s one round down, and another three to go before the quarter-finals begin. Will the big names be there when it matters most, or will there be another upset or two along the way?
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