Tuesday 22 June 2010

Wimbledon Diary 2010: Day 1

The 124th edition of the Championships at Wimbledon began with the fleeting trumpeting of Vuvezelas and truly lived up to that fanfare with the two top men in action being drawn into five set thrillers.

First Roger Federer, the reigning champion, came out against Alejandro Falla, a man he had beaten comfortably in his two previous tournaments, it was not however the cakewalk many anticipated. Falla matched him and stole the first two sets through hard work and good application of his game. However, as has happened many times during Federer's career, in five set matches he always finds a way of wearing down his opponent and this was no different with Falla eventually succumbing 6-0 in the final set, not a true reflection of how close this match was for much of it's course.

Novak Djokovic delivered a patchy and unconvincing win against perrenial also-ran Oliver Rochus competing in his ninth consecutive championships. The match swung this way and that and neither player seemed to deserve nor indeed want to win the match. There was an astonishing 16 breaks exchanged throughout the five sets with an even more amazing 21 break point chances squandered by the two players. The match had to be completed under the roof and lights of centre court for only the second time since the roof was operational last year. By the time Djokovic finally hit the winning match point the clock had struck 11.59 and it was officially the latest ending to a day of play at Wimbledon in it's 124 year history.

Another man held to an epic five setter on day one of the 2010 Championships was Nikolay Davydenko who, on his comeback from injury, eventually prevailed 9-7 in the fifth.

On the women's side, the biggest shock of the day was new French Open champion Francesca Schiavone losing in three sets to world number 56, Vera Dushevina while the comeback Belgian's were both assured on their respective returns to SW19. Kim Clijsters, the US Open champion comfortably beat Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-3 while Henin made short work of beating Sevastova of Latvia 6-4, 6-3.

It was a bad day for British tennis on day one with four British women in action on day 1 and all four being knocked out of the singles draw. Baltacha was perhaps the most disappointing when despite all the progress she has made over the last six to nine months, she threw away a winning position to lose in the third as her debilitating fear of closing out matches returned at the most inoppurtune moment. Katie O'Brien and Melanie South soon followed but the most positive of the opening day defeats was Laura Robson's straight sets defeat to former world number 1 and 4th seed here, Jelena Jankovic. The former Girls champion started badly, gifting Jankovic a break in the first game but played altogether better once she had settled down and almost took the second set in a tie break having already broken back and saved numerous match points. There were many positives to take from her showing, particularly in her serve, and should develop into a fine player in the coming years.

From a British point of view tomorrow brings the much brighter chance of a win through the world number 4, Andy Murray opening his Championships second on court 1 however, another one to watch tomorrow is Heather Watson who was handed a much easier draw than her fellow Grand Slam Junior Champion and should give a good account of herself in her Grand Slam debut at senior level. Tomorrow also brings the return of Nadal for the first time since THAT final and Soderling also starts his campaign. What is for sure, if Day two is anything like Day one, we're in for a hell of a ride, more tomorrow.

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