Friday 26 / April / 2024
London: Second seed Andy Murray showed no mercy to fellow Britain Liam Broady as he launched his Wimbledon challenge with a straightforward 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 victory on Tuesday.
The day after British qualifier Marcus Willis, the world number 772, made the front and back pages by reaching the second round, 235th-ranked Broady was given the Centre Court spotlight but played a subservient role as Murray gave a masterclass.
Murray, the 2013 champion, had not faced a fellow Britain in 56 previous Wimbledon matches while two home players had not squared off at the All England Club for 15 years.
Murray admitted beforehand that it had felt 'weird' but it was business as usual once play began as he broke twice to pocket the opening set in 25 minutes.
Erratic Wawrinka
Stan Wawrinka met stiff resistance from American teenager Taylor Fritz before he finally asserted his dominance in a 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-4 first-round victory.
The Swiss fourth seed was far from his best, with his groundstrokes uncharacteristically erratic, but his fearsome one-handed backhand and experience were enough to see off the 18-year-old making his tournament debut.
Wawrinka, who will play Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in the next round, said he and other players needed to get used to grasscourt conditions.
"I know if I can start to win few matches, I can be dangerous to go far," he told reporters.
Easy for Serena
Serena Williams is intent on defending her Olympic titles in Rio and finds it sad that several athletes will miss out on an "amazing" experience because of worries about the Zika virus.
The 34-year-old American, who won singles and doubles titles at London 2012, beat Amra Sadikovic 6-2, 6-4 in the first round.
"My experience has been really amazing at the Olympics. I really loved going out there and competing...standing out there and being an Olympic athlete," Williams told reporters.
On Monday top Romanian tennis player Simona Halep said she might not make the trip to Rio, but had yet to make a final decision.
Williams, 34, and her older sister Venus, 36, are aiming for a fourth doubles gold in Rio after winning in 2000, 2008 and 2012. Venus also won singles gold in 2000.
In another women's singles match Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the women's 13th seed, beat Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-4 under a closed roof on Centre Court as weather threatened to play spoil sport with some matches cancelled.
Kyrgios powers through
Australian 15th seed Nick Kyrgios outmanoeuvred Radek Stepanek in four sets on Tuesday, saying he could imagine a professional partnership developing with his opponent once the gritty Czech veteran finally hangs up his racket.
Kyrgios controlled much of the match as he moved Stepanek around with three quarter-pace groundstrokes fired deep into the corners. But after faltering in a marathon third set tiebreak in which the Czech saved two match points, the Australian admitted he was relieved to come through in four.
"That's a nightmare first round for anyone at Wimbledon. No one wants to play Radek here," he told reporters after his 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-1 win.
French duo
Hoping for a sporting clean sweep, Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga carried the French flag into the Wimbledon second round with straight-sets wins over Britain's Aljaz Bedene and Spain's Inigo Cervantes.
Seventh seed Gasquet used his trademark backhand to good effect to see off the British number two 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, although both players pulled off strokes that were at times things of beauty during their baseline rallies.
Tsonga, back in action for the first time after retiring from the French Open with a groin injury, shook off the cobwebs of a close first few games to beat the Spaniard, ranked 75th in the world, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4.
France started the tournament with 16 men in singles action, the most of any country and an Open Era record.
With the men's final at Wimbledon and the climax of soccer's European Championship in Paris both on July 10, the French will be hoping to scoop all the sporting silverware a week on Sunday.
Among the other Frenchmen gunning for a deep run on the grass, Jeremy Chardy overcame crowd pleaser Gael Monfils in a five-set epic on Monday.
Nicolas Mahut beat British wildcard Brydan Klein in straight sets, Gilles Simon defeated Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in four and 26th seed Benoit Paire overcame Croatian qualifier Franko Skugor in a marathon five-setter.
