(June 27, 2016) Top seed Novak Djokovic, going for his fifth major tournament win in a row and the third leg of the “Grand Slam” opened his defense at Wimbledon with a 6-0, 7-6(3) win over No. 177 British wild card James Ward. The Serb was halfway to a “triple bagel” (6-0, 6-0, 6-0) before Ward got on the board.
“I honestly didn’t expect myself to start that well,” said Djokovic. “Nine games in a row, 6 0, 3 0. I thought it was just a matter of time when James would win his first game. I knew that the reaction of the crowd, and his own reaction, will be the way it was.
“As a home player, he enjoyed a lot of support today, especially when he won his first game. That’s when the energy kind of shifted on his side. He felt huge relief obviously winning the first game. On the other hand, I maybe dropped the concentration a little bit. The second set was quite close. Credit to him for serving well.
“The first part of the match was almost flawless, so I’m very pleased with the way I started Wimbledon.”
Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was pushed by No. 52 Guido Pella 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-3. The Swiss broke the Argentine’s serve once – in the second-to-last game of the match.
Pella is now 0-4 in tour grass court matches.
“I was very happy with the way I played. If I would have used my chances earlier in the first and second set, maybe things would have been a bit easier.” Federer said. “I’m happy I made it in three straight sets.”
Federer’s win sets up a contest with the “Cinderella” of the tournament in the second round. No. 772 Marcus Willis, a British qualifier, advanced with a straight set win over Ricardas Berankis. Willis, a teaching pro came through both pre-qualifying and qualifying to reach the main draw.
World No. 772 Marcus Willis Reaches Wimbledon Second Round and Will Face Roger Federer
New French Open and last year’s Wimbledon finalist, Garbine Muguruza was pushed to a third set before advancing over Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Five-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6(3), 6-4 in her opening match. This is Williams’ 19th time competing at the All England Club.
Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic was an upset victim on Monday, losing to a qualifier ranked 223rd making her major tournament debut. The Serb seeded 23rd lost to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5. Also exiting on the women’s side was 25th seed Irina-Camelia losing 6-1, 6-4 to Germany’s Carina Witthoeft.
Ivanovic told media that her injury caused her many miss hits.
Upsets on the men’s side of the draw on day one were twentieth seed Kevin Anderson and 21st seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
In the comeback of the day, 28th seed Sam Querrey, rallied from two sets down to beat Lukas Rosol 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2, 12-10. back in 2012 Rosol stunned Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon.
Related articles:
2016 Wimbledon Day 1 Men’s Results
2016 Wimbledon Day 1 Women’s Results
2016 Wimbledon – Day 2 Men’s Preview