Her second-round opponent will be Hungarian Timea Babos.
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The hard server from Thornhill, Ont., fired 25 aces in the win, but had 34 unforced errors and converted three of nine break point opportunities.
Djokovic returns to the All England Club as the top seed for the third time.
Ex- semi-finalist Victoria Azarenka coasted through her opening match.
He enters Wimbledon a flawless 5-0 on grass winning at Queen’s Club last week and looks great.
While Sharapova can easily breeze through the first match, the British player is not to be undermined.
Williams glared at the lineswoman as she went back over to her position behind the baseline. “This is the cradle of our sport, Centre Court”.
The soft-spoken Wawrinka presently has the third best odds of winning Wimbledon, but at 14/1.
“I am privileged and honoured to open this year’s Wimbledon Centre Court as defending champion”.
Only two women in the professional era have won all four grand slams in the same year – Margaret Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988 – but 20-times major singles champion Williams is closing in. After the next point, a lineswoman trotted over to the chair umpire, who announced: “Code violation, audible obscenity, Miss Williams”.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic and five-time women’s victor Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday as organisers boosted security and weathermen ramped up warnings of a searing heatwave.
“I know it could have been useful to play a couple of official matches on grass, but it’s not the first time I’m coming straight into Wimbledon”. “I’ve done so well here in the past so I’ll always have so many good memories here”, Williams said.
The Serb, who denied Wimbledon king Roger Federer a record eighth title past year in a memorable final, chose not to take advantage of a longer than usual grass court season, re-charging his batteries rather than play a warm-up event.
Djokovic was followed on Centre Court by Maria Sharapova, who won Wimbledon title at 17 in 2004.
While he only had five breaks of Kohlschriber’s serve in the match, it was his serving that made the difference.
For Wawrinka, he is one of the few who has been able to challenge the dominance of the big four claiming two grand slams in the last 18 months, in Australia and most recently in France.
Becker said in a recent interview that he and Djokovic communicate during matches. I think that’s something that just gives you that reassurance, gives you that confidence.
The 129th edition of Wimbledon opened in mostly sunny conditions with temperatures in the 20s Celsius (70s Fahrenheit). Also in action on Monday are Lleyton Hewitt, John Isner, Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams among others.
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Andy Murray, the 2013 champion, saw his 2014 campaign sabotaged by a combination of back pain and an inspired Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.
