Top rankers settle down well
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams cruised into the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday as the All England Club recovered from the shockwaves of Rafael Nadal’s exit 24 hours earlier. World number one Djokovic, the 2011 champion, beat Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, in the Serb’s first grass-court outing of the season and his first match since his shattering five-set semi-final loss to Nadal at the French Open.
It was a big pleasure to play in front of a packed Centre Court against a tricky rival like Mayer. He’s got a great variety of shots and his game is well-suited to grass,” said Djokovic, who next faces either Bobby Reynolds or Steve Johnson.
Defending champion Williams, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title and 17th major, racked-up her 32nd successive win, cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella.
Her 57-minute romp on Centre Court briefly deflected attention away from the storm surrounding her controversial comments on a US high school rape case and the fall-out from her criticism of Maria Sharapova’s love life.
The 31-year-old took out her frustrations on the hapless Minella, the world number 92 who has never defeated a top-30 player let alone one of Williams’s calibre whose French Open title three weeks ago took her majors haul to 16.
Williams did not concede a single point on her serve in the first set and finished the match with 25 winners to Minella’s five. She goes on to face French qualifier Caroline Garcia, who she beat in the second round in Paris, for a place in the last 32.
Russia’s Maria Kirilenko, who made the quarterfinals last year, slumped to a first round exit at the hands of Britain’s world number 38, Laura Robson, who claimed a 6-3, 6-4 win. Li Na, the Chinese sixth seed, enjoyed a comprehensive 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek. The 31-year-old former French Open champion next faces Romania’s Simona Halep.
“It was a pretty good start to Wimbledon. Because the last two years I didn’t do well on the grass court,” said Li, twice a quarterfinalist. Argentinian eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro, who missed the French Open through illness, saw off Spain’s Albert Ramos 6-2, 7-5, 6-1. Australia’s Bernard Tomic put out American 21st seed Sam Querrey, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 despite complaining of dizziness midway through the match and being forced to call for a doctor.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori cruised into the Wimbledon second round as the 12th seed crushed Australian wild card Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday. Nishikori last year became the first Japanese man to reach the third round at the All England Club since 1995 and he has set his sights even higher this time.
