She is targeting the feat of winning all four majors in the same year, last achieved in women’s singles by Steffi Graf in 1988.
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Of the three, only Nadal lost serve and the big names imposed themselves easily on Day 2 of the grass-court Grand Slam as London basked in warm, sunny conditions.
She has suffered three successive major exits before the quarter-finals and chose to take a two-month break after losing her passion for the sport.
The second-seeded Kvitova, who is from the Czech Republic, said her parents made the trip for her first-round match, but will be heading home right away.
There is no doubt that the Czech player has the ideal game for grass but a first round defeat in Eastbourne last week underlines that frailties remain. My timing was off….
“I think that every match with her is different”.
Petra Kvitova produced a stunning display of power tennis to win the Championships in 2014, beating Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 in last year’s final.
Romanian third seed Simona Halep plays Slovakian Jana Cepelova later, and Danish fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki takes on China’s Saisai Zheng.
“The experience I have I think can help now”, said Kvitova. “But I didn’t expect to lose in (the) first round”.
Last year, they were forced to quit the Wimbledon doubles mid-match when Serena suffered a virus which left her dizzy, unsteady on her feet and unable to hit the ball over the net.
Murray, who became the first homegrown men’s champion in 77 years when he won Wimbledon in 2013, is setting himself up for another serious title run this year.
“I was happy I played aggressive”, he said.
Nadal, a two-time champion, coasted to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil on Court 1.
Federer completed the 74th Wimbledon victory of his career to kick-start what the 33-year-old hopes will be a march towards grand slam victory number 18 on July 12.
“You have to handle it well, so it’s always a struggle at the beginning of these tournaments”.
Like Murray, Kukushkin is coached by a woman – his wife Anastasia.
Another ex- Wimbledon finalist had a much more hard time on Day 4, but Sabine Lisicki drew from her wealth of Wimbledon experience to weave her way past a game Christina McHale, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
“For me, before I didn’t really have this kind of expectation”.
“Of course, the preparation, because I got sick, wasn’t flawless”.
Other early men’s winners Tuesday included No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 25 Andreas Seppi.
Jack Sock, the 31st-seeded American, was knocked out by Sam Groth of Australia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
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Kvitova next faces Serbian ex- world number one Jelena Jankovic, seeded 28th, in the round of 32.
