Wimbledon 2011 – News

Tuesday saw Serena Williams make her comeback to the All England Club, in just her third competitive game since last year’s final. She looked ill at ease in the first two sets but her class finally shone through as Rezai’s spirited resistance was finally broken to go through in 3 sets. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic then sailed through with consummate ease, the latter dropping only 6 games. World No 1 Caroline Wozniaki, three time finalist Andy Roddick and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova all went through in straight sets while Robin Soderling had a good workout, dropping a set but recovering to go through in 4 sets. Also, French Open champion Na Li, Victoria Azarenka and David Ferrer won rather easily, while 21st seed Fernando Verdasco, was on the brink before rallying to take the match 9-7 in the final set. The match of the tournament last year John Isner Vs Nicolas Mahut, this time failed to produce any fireworks with Isner coming through once again, this time though in straight sets.

Also Read: Wimbledon At Glance

Day 2 also saw major upsets, 27th seed Marin Cilic, 15th seed Jelena Jankovic and 22nd seed Alaksandr Dolgopolov all went out. There was mixed news for Indian fans as Sania Mirza bowed out of singles competition but Somdev went through. 2003 Champion Lleyton Hewitt also reached round 2 while 29th seed Nikolay Davydenko was not so lucky.

Day 3 will see Venus Williams in action against 40 years Date Krumm, while Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick will enthrall the Centre Court crowds again. All the major seeds Andy Murray, Vera Zvonereva, Tomas Berdych and Svetlana Kuznetsova will all try to secure a place in Round 3.Zheng Jie is still to complete her first round and she will feature in ladies’ doubles action also. There are some more first round matches to be completed before we will see Francesca Schiavone, Richard Gasquet, 4th seed Victoria Azarenka and Fernando Verdasco for their second round matches. Verdasco will hope to get off court early, as he was stretched all the way last night. The Indian Express Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes will begin their quest for a second Wimbledon, their last one coming 12 years ago. Also, the Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Ul Haq will have their opening match as Doubles action gets underway in the 2011 Championships.

Tags: All-England Club, Centre Court, Grand Slam, Preview, Rafael Nadal, Review, Serena Williams, Tennis, Wimbledon, Wimbledon Championships