Wimbledon 2011: Day 1 As it Happened

20 June, 2011, Monday- the 125th Championships got underway today at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Day 1 was headlined by the appearance of defending champion and top seed, Rafael Nadal, the 4th seed Andy Murray,and Juan Martin Del Potro, Tomas Berdych and Gael Monfils among other big names.

On the women’s side, five times champion Venus Williams, the 2010 Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone and the 2009 Roland Garros and 2oo4 US Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova were the top names at the center of action.

Rafael Nadal, despite a slow start, swept his first round opponent Michael Russel away, clinically dispatching the 91st ranked American in straight sets 6-4,6-2,6-2. Trailing 2-4 in the first set, Nadal pocketed the next six games in a row which gave him a commanding lead over the 33- year old Russel.The counterpuncher found himself hapless when Nadal’s whipping forehands flew past him for winners. With a never-say-die attitude to show for, there were moments of brilliance from Russel but at the end Nadal proved too hot for the American to handle when he committed only 5 unforced errors in the second set and lost just four points on the serve in the third to race away with the respective sets and the match in just one hour and 58 minutes. Ryan Sweeting, another American is up next for Nadal.

The fourth-seeded Andy Murray rallied from a set down to register his first round 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 victory over Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver under the roof at Centre Court. Following a rocky start, Murray finished the match in style as he swatted 12 aces, won the last 15 games and broke his Spanish counterpart seven times in the two-hour, six-minute match. Murray will face the winner of Tobias Kamke-Blaz Kavcic match.

The rain suspended 13 men’s matches on Day1. Among other first round winners were Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils, Stanislas Wawrinka, Feliciano Lopez, the Canadian Milos Raonic, and Richard Gasquet.

The five times champion Venus Williams may have been out of tennis for a while, but she began her campaign for a 6th Wimbledon title in style when she glided into the second round with a comprehensive victory 6-3,6-1 over her Uzbek opponent, Akgul Amanmuradova. The former champion displayed a masterclass in outclassing the Uzbek with her huge, monstrous serves and a power-packed baseline game. Two aces and a 117mph serve at the end of the 9th game helped her race away with the first set in just 35 minutes. The ruthless form continued in the second set and she ended the match with 7 aces, 23 winners and only 5 unforced errors.

On the other hand, the multiple Grand Slam champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova had to work her way out against an inspired Zhang Shuai, who ended her first Wimbledon campaign with a narrow defeat to the 12th seed. The 85th ranked Chinese did well enough to take the first set and briefly threatened to cause a major first round upset but the Russian’s class proved too much for the Chinese at the end. The baseline winners secured Kuznetsova a break in the second set. The third set followed the same pattern and the Russian broke her opponent twice to enter into the second round 3-6,6-3,6-4.

The 2nd seed, Vera Zvonareva survived a gritty performance from her American opponent Alison Riske to advance to the second round with a 6-0, 3-6,6-3 win. While the first set was over in just 25 minutes, the American fought back to level the match in the second set. Plagued by an increased unforced error count, Rinke served seven double faults and 24 unforced errors compared to Zvonareva’s 15, the momentum swung and the Russian broke to lead 4-3 in the deciding set.

Meanwhile, Francesca Schiavone got lucky with the rain interruption as the rejuvenated Australian No.3 Jelena Dokic lost her way after reeling in the second set. The Italian got the break in the deciding set to book her spot in the second round with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win under the Centre Court roof.

Among other winners include Kimiko Date- Krumm, Sara Errani, Yanina Wickmayer, Elena Vesnina.

DAY 1- COMPLETED RESULTS:

GENTLEMEN’s SINGLES:

[1] R Nadal (ESP) d M Russell (USA) 64 62 62[4] A Murray (GBR) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 46 63 60 60[6] T Berdych (CZE) d F Volandri (ITA) 62 62 61A Beck (GER) vs [8] A Roddick (USA) - postponed due to rain[9] G Monfils (FRA) d M Bachinger (GER) 64 76(3) 63[10] M Fish (USA) d M Granollers (ESP) 76(3) 76(5) 64[14] S Wawrinka (SUI) d P Starace (ITA) 63 64 64E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs [15] G Simon (FRA) - postponed due to rain[17] R Gasquet (FRA) d S Giraldo (COL) 75 63 76(3)R Stepanek (CZE) vs [21] F Verdasco (ESP) - postponed due to rainI Karlovic (CRO) vs [23] J Tipsarevic (SRB) - postponed due to rain[24] J Del Potro (ARG) vs F Cipolla (ITA) - postponed due to rain[25] J Chela (ARG) vs M Matosevic (AUS) - To Finish 64 64 67(6) 31 I Ljubicic (CRO) vs [27] M Cilic (CRO) - postponed due to rainR Schuettler (GER) d [30] T Bellucci (BRA) 76(3) 64 62[31] M Raonic (CAN) d *[LL] M Gicquel (FRA) 63 76(3) 63F Lopez (ESP) d M Berrer (GER) 64 75 63R Sweeting (USA) d P Andujar (ESP) 36 46 61 76(1) 61G Zemlja (SLO) d L Lacko (SVK) 64 36 76(8) 64T Kamke (GER) vs B Kavcic (SLO) - postponed due to rainJ Benneteau (FRA) d R Bemelmans (BEL) 64 62 36 46 61D Sela (ISR) d F Gil (POR) 64 61 64O Rochus (BEL) vs K De Schepper (FRA) - postponed due to rainI Kunitsyn (RUS) d I Sijsling (NED) 63 64 62J Pospisil (CZE) vs V Hanescu (ROU) - postponed due to rainS Bolelli (ITA) d M Fischer (AUT) 75 64 64S Stakhovsky (UKR) vs D Cox (GBR) - postponed due to rainD Istomin (UZB) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 46 63 63 63A Clement (FRA) vs L Kubot (POL) - postponed due to rainA Bogomolov Jr (USA) d D Young (USA) 75 46 63 61G Muller (LUX) d T Haas (GER) 76(5) 76(3) 36 63R Haase (NED) vs P Riba (ESP) - postponed due to rain

*[LL] M Gicquel (FRA) replaced F Fognini (ITA)

LADIES’s SINGLES:

(2) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Alison Riske (USA) 60 36 63(6) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Jelena Dokic (AUS) 64 16 63(12) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Zhang Shuai(CHN) 36 63 64Sara Errani (ITA) d. (17) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 61 64(19) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d.Vavara Lepchenko (USA) 75 63Ksenia Pervak (RUS) d. (22) Shahar Peer (ISR) 57 64 64(23)Venus Williams (USA) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 63 61Christina MacHale (USA) d. (28) Ekaterina Makarova(RUS) 26 61 86Elena Vesnina (RUS) d.Laura Pous-Tio(ESP) 64 63Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d.Jill Craybas(USA) 62 64Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 61 61Kimiko Date- Krumm (JPN) d. (WC) Katie O’Brien(GBR) 60 75Pauline Parmentier (FRA) d.Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 61 63Anna Tatishvili (GEO) d. Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) 36 62 63

Suspended due to rain(4)Victoria Azarenka(BLR) leads Magadalena Rybarikova (SVK) 64 32Tamira Paszek (AUT) leads Ayumi Morita(JPN) 57 63 20Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) leads Iveta Benesova (CZE) 21Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) leads Alize Cornei (FRA) 75