It was a contrasting start for Serena Williams and Roger Federer at the 2018 Wimbledon but both advanced to the second round of the competition on a hot opening day at SW19.
Temperatures soared in London on day one of the 2018 Wimbledon but that did not stop the defending champion Federer from registering a 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dusan Lajovic. On the other hand, Williams was stretched in the opening set but came back strongly to carve out a 7-5, 6-3 win against Aranxta Rus.
Federer admitted he felt good right from the start which wasn’t the case in the previous year when the two had played each other. Williams, on the other hand, said she wasn’t at her best but expressed confidence she would get there as she played on.
Wimbledon Tips Here | Wimbledon Live Streaming Here | Wimbledon Tickets Here
However, the news wasn’t as good for the fourth seeded Sloane Stephens and fifth seeded Elina Svitolina, both of whom were sent packing from the tournament. US Open champion and French Open runner-up Stephens went down in straight sets to Donna Vekic while Svitolina was shown the exit door by Tatjana Maria.
Some of the other top known players, however, made it through to the next round at Wimbledon. Some needed an extended stay at the court while there were others who made short work of their opponents to enter round two.
Five-time winner Venus Williams lost a first set tie-breaker to Johanna Larsson before winning 6-7, (3-7) 6-2, 6-1 while second seed Caroline Wozniacki was on court for less than an hour to overcome American Varvara Lepchenko 6-0, 6-3.
Former world number two Agnieszka Radwanska has fallen to 31st in the world after a string of poor performances and needed to save six match points before beating Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
Third seed and runner-up from last year, Marin Cilic was an easy 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 winner over Yoshihito Nishioka, but the potential match of the day came when the three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, ranked 224th because of injury, needed four sets to send the sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov packing.
There was also cheer for Great Britain’s Katie Swan, a wild-card in the competition, who made it to the second round by beating world number 36 Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2, 6-2.
Be the first to comment