Well that's Wimbledon well under way now with the first two days of action over with, and they have been pretty eventful days at that, so let's start looking at it.
On Day 1, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion opened up on centre court, with his first round opponent being the potentially tough Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former World No.1. But Djokovic being the current No.1 proved to be more than a match for the former French Open champion, as he broke his opponent in the first two sets once, and twice in the 3rd to secure a place in the 2nd round with a very comfy win of 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. Next up was Federer who looked in formidable form as he played the Spaniard, Albert Ramos, who gave the Fed express very little trouble at all, and as the Swiss maestro went right through his opponent, gubbing him, and conceding only one game per set, to reach the 2nd round in 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. This is some victory and certainly sends out a strong signal to the other players in the locker room, that Roger is still a very dangerous opponent and is hungry for a chance to lift that 7th Wimbledon title, and based on this performance, it looks very likely.
In other Day 1 performances there were a couple of upsets on the men's side, the biggest being Tomas Berdych, the World No.6, who came up against an inspired Ernest Gulbis, who played brilliantly in the key points, and overcame the No.6 seed in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. This was quite a surprise indeed, and Gulbis at one point even thought he had won the match at 5-4 in the 3rd, but his return was just a centimetre long, but it was short lived for Berdych, as Gulbis went to victory in the 3rd tiebreak. So it was quite a shock result, however Gulbis did defeat Andy Murray in an exhibition match not along ago at the Mary Cohr Guinot Masters, so its not that much of a surprise that he won, although I'm not a big a fan of his personality, as he comes across as being a bit of a dick in his post match interviews, as he gave smart alec answers after his win against Berdy.
The other big upset (big is the right word!) was John Isner who battled against the significantly shorter Colombian player, Alejandro Falla, who the big fella lost to in 5 sets, winning 6-4, 6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. This means that we won't see a rematch of Isner playing Nicholas Mahut unfortunately, but Mahut for a change has made it through to the 2nd round in his match, so well done to him, in fact it would be fair to say that if they had met that Mahut would have had a real shout of winning this time.
Anyway onto the ladies Day 1 matches, which saw the World No.1, Maria Sharapova in action, who came through in flying colours against her opponent, Anastasia Rodionova in 6-2, 6-3, which sees the current French Open champion looking in real good form for a shot at the title here also (and looking rather good!). Kim Clijsters also made it through against the fading Jelena Jankovic in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, and Agnieszka Radwanska, the current World No.3, also came through in straight sets against Magdalena Rybarikova with a 6-3, 6-3 win. And Sam Stosur also made it safely through to the 2nd round against Carla Suarez Navarro, winning in 6-1, 6-3. And one of the biggest upsets on the ladies was Venus Williams, who went out agaist Elena Vesnina of Russia in straight sets also in 6-1, 6-3, with Venus clearly starting to look past her best. And perhaps the win of the day came from the Brit player, Heather Watson, who this year has started to really shine, and she continued to at Wimbledon as she breezed past, the Czeck player, Iveta Benesova, in 6-2, 6-1.
This was a really impressive performance from young Heather and it was also her first win at Wimbledon, and not only that it was the first time a British singles ladies player won a match on centre court since Jo Durie (former British No.1). And judging by her performance, she could do even better in future, and for me she is becoming the real ray of light in British ladies tennis, which the ladies game badly needs. In fact we could even be looking at the female equivalent of Andy Murray in terms of her playing ability, as Heather has already beaten several players ranked well above her this year, so she can only get better from here.
So onto Day 2, which on the ladies front saw the defending champion, Petra Kvitova take to court, although she got off to a slow start against her opponent Akgul Amanmuradova, who raced to a 3-0 lead. But Petra soon found her form, and got over her nervy start to break back even and take the first set in 6-4, and the second set was the same at 6-4, after a brief rain delay. Victoria Azarenka, the former World No.1, also got off to a good start as she raced to a 6-1, 6-4 victory against the American, Irinca Falconi. And Serena Williams managed to avoid another first round slam defeat, by defeating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
Now for an update on the British ladies matches today, which saw some good news and some bad news. Starting with the bad news as one of the Brits didn't make it through, Laura Robson who was up against Francesca Schiavone, the former French Open 2010 champion. Laura started off strong in the 1st set taking it 6-2, but in the 2nd, Fran fought back and broke to take it 6-4, and in the 3rd, despite going 5-2 down, Laura battled back to make it 5-4, but after staving a couple of match points, she eventually fell to the Italian in 6-2, 4-6, 4-6. But the good news is today we had the two seasoned ladies players make it through as Elena Baltacha, who played Karin Knapp, after a set down, came back to defeat Knapp, who became injured in the 2nd set, but sped to victory winning in 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. And Ann Keothavong also made it past Laura Pous-Tio of Spain, in straight sets in 6-3, 6-3. So its great to see three of the ladies British players make it through, although it gets tougher for them from here.
Now onto the men's starting with Rafa Nadal who was up second on centre court (after Petra) and played the big serving Brazilian, Thomaz Bellucci. Rafa got off to a real slow start as he went 4-0 down in the first set, but after Bellucci missed a simple smash to save a break point, Rafa broke back and rattled off the next 4 games, and it went to a tibreak which Rafa won 7-0. And in the 2nd and 3rd sets, it was all Rafa really, who started to find his footing and played much better, cutting down on the unforced errors, and blasting past the big Brazilian in 7-6, 6-2, 6-3. Juan Martin Del Potro also overcame the talented Dutch player, Robin Haase, in 4 sets. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took out former Wimbledon champion, Layton Hewitt in convincing fashion, firing 60 winners against the former World No.1, to take his place in the 2nd round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory. And Mardy Dish got past his opponent, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in 7-6, 7-5, 7-6, returning to the sport after having heart surgery.
And now for a couple of British victories, starting with the World No.4, Andy Murray, who came into this tournament in questionable form, as he lost his first match in his title defence at Queens club, and also lost his two exhibition matches at Boodles last week. However Andy quickly dispelled any fears of his form as he put on a brilliant display against the former World No.3, Nikolai Davydenko, who was powerless against Andy's superb performance. In this match Andy looked like a player that had been transformed, as he hit forehand about as well as it has ever been hit, rarely missing, and above all serving brilliantly, consistently in the high 60s (67% 1st serves in!). It was the best start that Andy could have hoped for at Wimbledon, and despite the concern over the toughness of his opponent, Davydenko looked a former shadow of himself, and grass also is his weakest surface, so in a way, it was the perfect first round opponent.
However things get tougher from here, but if Andy can keep this performance up then he's in with a very strong shout of at least reaching the semis and maybe even the final. In the meantime tougher challenges await Andy ahead, but this a very encouraging sign, which hopefully will see him through to the later stages. But he has to maintain that level to have any chance of winning the title, and as we all know from the past, it tends to be a case of which Andy Murray you get on the day, so perhaps today was just a good day at the office, and who knows which Andy we will get in the 2nd round, but regardless I think he's still going to go deep into the tournament, even if he doesn't win.
And finally another British victory saw the British No.2, James Ward, battle against his opponent who is ranked well over 100 places above him, Pablo Andujar, as they fought in a match that went the distance. And despite being 3-0 down in the 5th set, Ward managed to break back and level at 3-3, and then went on to take the last 3 games, as Adujar crumbled and double faulted to hand the match to Jamesy in 4-6, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. This was a terrific effort from James Ward and its great to see another British player into the 2nd round of their home slam, other than Andy Murray, so a big well done to Wardy for his match win today. And Jamie Baker another Brit was in action on Day 2, and will be on Day 3, as his match with Andy Roddick was suspended due to bad light. Roddick was leading but a set and a break 7-6, 4-2, when play was halted, and Roddick too was a bit of a dick, as at one point he demanded for the towel from the towel boy. Where are you manners Roddick??? Say PLEASE! Coh.
Soooooo that's it for now it was a really good for the Brits at SW19, so a big well done to the quartet getting through (quintet if you count Heather from day 1). Heather Watson will be in action on Day 3 against the American, Jamie Lee Hampton, but it gets tougher from here. So I will post up another update in a couple of days time, and keep up to date on the matches as they continue.
Until then that's all for now folks!
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