Right well I thought I might as well get my Summer Olympics posts for the tennis under way, as the games kicked off yesterday for all events, not just the grass courts, and here's a look at some of the matches from Day 1 of Olympics tennis from Wimbledon.
OK so starting with the ladies (the usual tradition) we had one or British players up in the singles, starting with Elena Baltacha, who was handed probably the easiest player that the singles Brit players have had, with Agnes Szavay of Hungary. Elena came through the match with little trouble and she impressively broke once in each set to claim a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 victory. Although her next opponent will be a much sterner one, which is Ana Ivanovic who came through a tough test yesterday against the American, Christina McHale, in 6-4, 7-5. Anne Keothavong however was less successful as she faced a much tougher opponent in the former World No.1, Caroline Wozniacki, and despite getting off to a strong start, taking the first set, Anne was unable to maintain her form once Caz got going, who took the second set, and in the 3rd the former No.1 broke Anne twice to land her place in the 2nd round, which marked her first victory ever since losing in the 3rd round at Roland Garros. Serena Williams however had no trouble whatsoever in getting past Jelena Jankovic, who she more than comfortably ass-whipped in a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win. Its a shame for Jankovic as she clearly is showing the signs of a player who is now past her best, but let's hope she does better in the future, and on the bright side she will play in the Fed cup finals for Serbia later this year. Petra Kvitova however had a tough test as well against Kateryna Bodarenko who took her the distance, but ultimately the former Wimbledon champion came through in 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. And finally Kim Clijsters, breezed past the Italian player, Roberta Vinci, in straigh sets 6-1, 6-4.
On the men's singles we had Roger Federer, the current World No.1 out on court playing against the talented big hitting Colombian, Alejandro Falla, who gave Fed a big scare two years ago in the first round at Wimbledon (funnily enough). And this time it threatened to look the same, as Federer despite being a break up in the 2nd set, suffered a minor wobble, dropped serve to let Falla back in the door, who went on to break to take the 2nd set. In the decider however, despite letting Falla break back again to level 3-3, Falla had no real answer for the mighty Fed after that, and the maestro went onto to win in 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. The other top seeds mostly have a good day as well, as the giant John Isner for starters, closed out a straight sets victory against the pint sized Belgian player, Olivier Rochus in 7-6, 6-4. I didn't see them shake hands at the net but I bet it looked mighty funny! Gilles Simon also come through in a straight set win against Mikhail Kukushkin with an easy peasy 6-4, 6-2 victory, as did Juan Martin Del Petro against the Croat player, Ivan Dodig in 6-4, 6-1.
However the upset of the day was Tomas Berdych, who once again suffered the cruel fate he had at the Wimbledon championships, as he lost to the unseeded Steven Darcis of Belgium in 6-4, 6-4. This was a bit of shocker, but I guess Berdych might have been haunted by his loss four weeks back at Wimbledon, and he appeared to be struggling with slipperiness of the court, as did a few of the players. Perhaps that is something that he organisers should have looked into, as I recall even Andy Murray took one or two bad tumbles during the Championships a few weeks back in his match against Baghdatis. However I am actually relieved that Berdych is out, as he was in Andy's section of the draw, and would have been a very dangerous quarter final opponent should he have got there, especially as he leads their head to head 4-2.
So that brings onto the Brits doubles teams who were playing today, well three of them, starting the Murray brothers, who took on an Austrian team in Jurgen Melzer (former Wimbledon doubles champion) and Alexander Peya. Overall it was a very tight close match and the Murrays had their chances to win as they were up a break a couple of times in the 3rd set, but in the end the Austrians tenacity proved to be that bit too good for the Brits, as they won a close match in 5-7, 7-6, 7-5. Also in action were the top ranked doubles Brits, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, who unfortunately also fell to the Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Julien Bennetau in straight sets 7-5, 6-3. And finally Heather Watson and Laura Robson took on the German pairing of Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber, and despite getting off to a great start winning the first set in 6-1, the two Germans found their form and went onto win the match in 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Well it was a rather sad day for the Brits, particularly for the doubles teams, which leaves only one team left, who are Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha, who are scheduled to play today Ekaterina Makarova and Maria Kirilenko, and frankly I don't fancy their chances either, especially as the two Russians are the 6th seeds, so it could be yet another downer waiting for the Brits, but you never know. And Laura Robson and Heather Watson are both in action today in singles, but Laura hasn't got it easy by any means as she will play Lucie Safarova of the Czeck republic, although Heather does have a more evenly matched opponent as she plays the Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa, so here's hoping one of them gets through.
But one man who hopefully will come through today for the Brits in the singles will be Andy Murray, but he faces a stern test in his first opponent as he will play the Swiss No.2, Stan Wawrinka, and although Andy leads their head to head 6-4, it will no doubt be a tough match, but hopefully win Andy can win. And if the Muzza keeps up his form that he showed at Wimbledon then there's no reason that he should lose, but you never know! But nah, he should get through, and all the best to him.
Right well that's it for now, I'll baaaaaack hopefully with some good news for the Brits, but we shall see. Also today we have more of the top seeds on either side of the gender net in action, with Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsong in action on the guys, and Agnieszka Radwanska, Sara Errani (who plays Venus Williams), Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, so its alllll good!
So that is that.
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