Right OK welcome to my first post on the 2013 Wimbledon championships which is already under as it started on Monday there, and what a dramatic start we've had so far to the tournament with quite a few big upsets, retirals and withdrawals. So let's have a closer look at what's been happening so far.
Right starting with Day 1 and the ladies we had Maria Sharapova on centre court first who played Kristina Mladenovic, and it was quite a tough first round for Sharapova who was pushed hard in the first set in a great set, which went to a tiebreak, which Maria won. In the 2nd set Maria got an early break which let her move on to win the match in 7-6, 6-3, which saw the former champion come through a tricky opener. Victoria Azarenka also came through her match despite having an injury scare as she was one of the first victims of the very slippery courts at SW19 as she fell and hurt her knee. Regardless Vika managed to go and win the match the win in convincing fashion against her opponent Maria Jao Koeheler in 6-1, 6-2. But after this match Victoria was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to her injury and she later expressed her concerns over the quality of the courts, and no doubt she wasn't she alone in that. In other Day 1 matches Ana Ivanovic came through against Virginia Razzanno, Serena Williams conqueror last year at the French Open, but the Serb had not so much trouble as she won 7-6, 6-0. Petra Kvitova however had to fight her way past the American player, Coco Vandewegh as she battled past her in 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. And one of the big upsets of the day for the ladies Sara Errani who fell at the first hurdle, clearly showing grass is her weakest surface as she went out against Monica Puig of Puerto Rica, who won comfortably in 6-3, 6-2.
Day 2 we had Serena Williams the defending champion win her first match against Mandy Minella in convincing fashion as you would expect with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. Serena naturally is the favourite to win the title and assuming she doesn't fall and injure herself like some of the other players, its going to be hard to see anyone stop her. Agnieszka Radwanska also came through her first round match in fine style with as she breezed past Yvonne Muesburger (cool name!) only conceding two games, in 6-1, 6-1. And after nearly all the British players being dumped out in the first round, there was good news for the Brit ladies, as Laura Robson made a great start by taking another big scalp in defeating the world No.10, Maria Kirilenko in 6-3, 6-4. This was a terrific result and saw Laura take another big name down to add to her growing list of top players she has defeated, and given her draw I think she has a chance to go fairly deep and maybe into the 2nd week, but we will just have to wait and see. Sabine Lisicki of Germany (very saucy) who is a naturally gifted grass court player came through easily against Francesca Schivaone in 6-1, 6-2.
Getting onto Day 3, this was easily the most dramatic day of the tournament so far as we saw quite a few big names fall to the way side on both the men and ladies side. Starting with the heaviest ladies casualty which was Maria Sharapova, who fell victim to the slippery courts, as she fell and twisted her leg as she did the splits. Maria was still able to play on but she was playing a very inspired and determined opponent in Michelle Larcher De Brito who pulled off a big upset by defeating the former champion in 6-3, 6-4. This loss was mostly like due to Sharapova's fall as she sustained quite a nasty one and had the trainer called out on court at one point, but again it raised more concerns about the slippiness of the surface out there. Caroline Wozniacki also went out early to Petra Cetkovska and she also suffered a fall in the first set and was broken twice in both sets by her Czeck opponent who won the match in 6-2, 6-2. Whether this loss was attributed purely to her fall or not it shows more concerns about Caroline's very poor record in the grand slams this year, having already suffered a 2nd round exit at the French Open. Ana Ivanovic also suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the Canadian player, Eugenie Bouchard who came through with a surprise 6-3, 6-3 win. Jelena Jankovic also suffered a 2nd round defeat against Vesna Dolonc who beat the Serb 7-5, 6-2. Petra Kvitova however made safe passage into the 3rd round as she received a walkover as her opponent Yaroslava Shvedova also withdrew with injury. And finally Flavia Pennetta also received a walkover as I already mentioned that Victoria Azarenka had also withdrawn with injury due to her fall from her 1st round match. So that was one helluva day for the ladies.
Now onto the men starting with day 1 as Roger Federer took on Victor Hanescu and he eased past with a straight set win of 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Andy Murray also made a strong start to his Wimbledon campaign as he dismissed the German player, Benjamin Becker with a straight forward 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win. Andy had one or two minor wobbles in the match but apart from that he is looking in very good form so far in the tournament, and he remains a strong favourite for the title.
As for Rafa well.... having had no grass court preparation at all coming into Wimbledon he was not in the best position to do well at the tournament, however being Rafa you would expect him to come through his first round match against Steven Darcis. However in Darcis, Rafa came up against an inspired opponent who refused to go away as he pushed Rafa hard right from the start, and he took the first two sets on tiebreaks. In the 3rd set Rafa had to start a comeback and fast, however straight off he was broken by the Belgian, who went on to hold serve and pull off an even bigger upset than last year as he dumped out the two time champion not only in the first round, but also in straight sets with a 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory. Well this easily ranks as one of the biggest upsets in the open era of tennis, and it even topples Lukas Rosol's efforts from last year, and even two years it would be unthinkable that Rafa would go out in the first round of a major tournament, but he has. This however again raises questions over Rafa's fitness, as there were certain points in the match where he wasn't up to chasing down balls like he would before. And now that the clay court season is over, Rafa will need to try and adapt to playing on hard court again, so he will need to plan his schedule carefully no doubt, and it wouldn't surprise if he had to pull out of a few tournaments again, and perhaps even the US Open. But we will just have to see how Rafa's fitness will be by then.
In other day 1 matches, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through a tight straight set win over the talented belgian, David Goffin, who he beat 7-6, 6-4, 6-3. Lleyton Hewitt, the former champion also came through against Stanislas Wawrinka with a straight set win of 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. And Queen's club runner-up Marin Cilic defeated Marcos Baghdatis in 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Moving on to day 2 starting with the World No.1, Novak Djokovic who played against the tricky German player, Florian Mayer, but he managed to overcome him with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 scoreline. Well with this result Nole is off to a confident start and he is looking convincing so far and I don't think there will be any danger of him being upset before the final, but you never know (but I doubt it!). David Ferrer withstood a mid-match fightback from his opponent Martin Alund of Argentina and Ferrer had minor scare as he also fell foul to the slippy courts and fell twice. However Ferrer managed to fight on as he dropped the 2nd set to Alund, and was pushed hard in the 3rd, he managed to break Alund to take the two sets to one lead, and Ferrer went on to win the 4th after a tough 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win. Juan Martin Del Potro also made it past his first round opponent, the Spaniard Albert Ramos with fair ease in a 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 scoreline. Tomas Berdych also put his first round exit woes at the French Open behind him as he beat Martin Klizan of the Slovak republic with a straight set 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory. Tommy Haas made it past his first round opponent Dimitry Tursinov of Russia with a straight set win of 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, and at the age of 35 it just shows you are never too old to play your best tennis! And finally Richard Gasquet fought his way into the 2nd round as he beat Marcel Granollers of Spain in a tight four setter, winning 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
Now onto Day 3 of the men's and for starters we had Andy Murray play the Taiwanese player Lu Yhen-Sun who proved to be quite a tricky player for Andy, who had also previously beat him in the Beijing Olympics back in 2008. However Andy was in great form and despite a mini wobble on serve at 2-2 in the first set, staving of break points, Andy confidently went to break his opponent to take the opening set, and he soon took a two sets to love lead. The 3rd set was more competitive as Lu played more aggressively, but at 6-5 with Lu was finally undone by Andy who claimed the win with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 scoreline. Andy looks be in excellent form so far in the tournament and he will next face the Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, which should prove to be tricky, however I think Andy will come through it in 3 or 4 sets.
In other matches of the day Lleyton Hewitt suffered an early exit at the hands of the German player, Dustin Brown as the German beat Hewitt in four sets with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 score. There was also another big casualty on the men's side as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took a bad fall on the court as well and he was forced to retire from his match in the 3rd set against Ernest Gulbis trailing 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 ret. Marin Cilic also decided to withdraw from the tournament as he was due to play his match against Kenny De Schepper. Fernando Verdasco had better fortune as he knocked out Julienne Benneatau of France in straight sets winning 7-6, 7-6, 6-4.
However the biggest upset of the day and most likely of the tournament came from a most unlikely opponent in Roger Federer who played against an inspired Sergiy Stakhovsky, the talented Ukranian player. Roger throughout the match was put through his paces by Sergiy who has a natural grass court game, and kept serving and volleying against Roger which proved to be very effective. Roger did however manage to take the first set on the tiebreak, and he had his chances in the 2nd set for break points, however Sergiy hung tough and managed to take the 2nd set on a tiebreak. In the 3rd Roger seemed to let his concentration waver as Sergiy went on to break him to take a two sets to one lead. And in the 4th Sergiy got an early break, but at 3-2, Roger managed to break back to get things back on serve and play went to a tiebreak yet again where Sergiy pulled off the unthinkable by beating Roger in 4 sets with a remarkable 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 triumphant victory.
Well upsets don't come bigger than this as Roger sustained his first loss in a grand slam before the quarter finals for nine years! But given Roger's recent form in a way an early exit in a major didn't seem quite so surprising as he has struggled somewhat this year, despite doing well and winning the title in Halle, his dip in form at the French Open against Tsonga was also a tell tale sign. However it is still a shock that he would sustain such as heavy loss at Wimbledon, where he was the defending champion, given the success he has had in the past, but I guess age has caught up with him and it can't last forever. And as both Roger and Rafa were on Andy's side of the draw, it has opened a big opportunity again for Andy to reach the final this year, although he still has some tough players to negotiate past in his side such as Tommy Robredo up next, then possibly Viktor Troicki or Mikhail Youzhny in the 4th round, and then possibly Juan Monaco, Fernando Verdasco or Ernest Gulbis in the quarter finals. So it all remains to be seen how it will all pan oot!
Right so that's it for a pretty exhaustive first post on Wimbledon 2013. And my next post will not be until well into next week as I will heading to London tonight and will be at Wimbledon for the day on Saturday, so I will be checking out the action on Court No.1, so can't wait for that!
And on that exciting note I will leave it there!
This topic irritates me I read some AMAZING posts.............
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