Wimbledon: More sun and more success
June 30, 2015
The sun continued shining at Wimbledon on day two, and with it came no break for the tournament's hopefuls as the big names continued to bask in their superior quality.
Angelique Kerber got off to a blistering start, hammering fellow German Carina Witthöft 6-0, 6-0 in just 45 minutes. Fed Cup teammate Andrea Petkovic sealed her very own double bagel on Monday to join Kerber in the second round.
"Angie just steamrolled Carina," said Germany's national team coach Barbara Rittner. Germany's number one made the semifinals in 2012 and will be keen to follow up her tournament win in Birmingham this year with more success on grass. Kerber will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after she beat Germany's Mona Barthel in three sets.
Fellow German Sabine Lisicki strolled into the second round after a swift 7-5, 6-4 win over Australian Jarmila Gajdosova later in the day. Whilst 12th seeded Eugenie Bouchard of Canada was the shock departure of the day, as she was beaten by unseeded Ying-Ying Duan of China, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Despite being hit by illness last week, Petra Kvitova opened the defense of her Wimbledon title on Tuesday with a dominant performance on Centre Court. It took her just over half an hour to beat Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-0. She only dropped a point on serve when she double-faulted on the first point of the final game.
Federer, Nadal and Murray look sharp
Qualifier Dustin Brown became the third German (Tommy Haas and Alexander Zverev advanced on Monday) in the men's draw to progress after beating Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Brown's reward is a second round match with Spaniard Rafa Nadal after the two-time Wimbledon champion comfortably won his first round tie in three sets.
Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer put in yet another classy Centre Court performance to down Bosnian youngster Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed five sets to beat big-serving Gilles Muller.
British number one Andy Murray also showed no issues in his first round tie. The 2013 Wimbledon champion overcame Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Temperatures are expected to increase during the week though, forcing organisers to implement the tournament's first ever heat breaks for when the mercury rises above 30.1 degrees Celsius (86.2 degrees Fahrenheit). These breaks will last 10 minutes between the second and third sets of women's matches, should the temperatures exceed the limit. The breaks will not be applicable in men's matches however.
jh/msh (AP, Reuters)