Defending champion Petra Kvitova took just 35 minutes to reach the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday as the tournament sweltered in near record-breaking heat.
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In other play involving seeds, No. 17 Ukrainian Elina Svitolina overcame Japanese Misaki Doi 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, No. 20 Spaniard Garbine Muguruza grounded American Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 6-1 and Brit Heather Watson upended No. 32 Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 1-6, 6-3, 8-6 at this grass-court fortnight.
Federer lost in last year’s final, and hasn’t won the Wimbledon title since 2012.
‘Of course I was very nervous before the match, ’ Kvitova said.
“He changed up his game a tiny bit which made it a tiny bit more hard so it was interesting for me”. I’m very happy about my performance in the first round. “But stepping on the court, with all the people clapping, the atmosphere was unbelievable”.
The second seed will next face either Japan’s Kurumi Nara or Poland’s Magda Linette, before potentially clashing with Britain’s Laura Robson in the third round.
Zero victories for Russian men at the All England Club this year – the first time at any Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 1998 that no man from the country won a singles match.
And, staggeringly, she didn’t drop a point on serve when she was serving for the match at 5-0 in the second set.
Unfortunately for Kvitova a double fault prevented her from winning the match without dropping a point on serve but that didn’t stop her from bageling her opponent and sailing into the next round.
The one way traffic continued as a third break of the match two games later left the Czech with a chance to serve out the win.
She was forced to pull out of the Aegon Championship, insisting it was the right thing to do to be ready for Wimbledon. “I didn’t really have the great preparation that I wanted, but that’s how it is”.
The highest-ever temperature recorded at Wimbledon was 34C in 1976.
“I was happy I played aggressive”, he said.
“Pretty much sums up my career, I guess”.
Andy Murray didn’t disappoint his local fans on Tuesday.
Murray, the 2013 victor, faced a stiffer test against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.
Murray beat his rival twice in 2012 at Brisbane and then at the Australian Open in the fourth round.
Bouchard seemed to be the new star of women’s tennis previous year when she reached at least the semifinals at the first three Grand Slam tournaments.
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Federer lost in last year’s final, and hasn’t won the Wimbledon title since 2012.
