Williams dropped serve in the very first game, as she made a slow start against the qualifier.
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She came out so fast, I was like, Oh my God, if I dont start Im going to be down a set. “I’m just excited about that and really focusing on that”, Serena said. As Serena was losing to Alize Cornet in the third round of singles play previous year, Venus also bowed out in the third round, but it was against eventual champion Petra Kvitova, and the score was 5-7, 7-6, 7-5.
“It is great to be back in the cradle of our sport”, he said.
Williams is also just a Wimbledon triumph away from the second non-calendar “Serena Slam” of her illustrious career. She lost her opening service game, fell heavily in the sixth game and shortly afterwards was warned for uttering her first audible obscenity of the week.
The crowd voiced their pleasure at Gasparyan’s display of defiance and it was clear that the Russian was not going to die wondering on her SW19 debut winning the second game with a wonderful laser of a forehand down the line, a shot that would soon become her signature. “I think we’re all amazed at what she’s done really”.
Venus Williams joined her younger sister in the second round by winning 6-0 6-0 against fellow American Madison Brengle.
It took the five-time champion just 41 minutes on Court Three, firing six aces and 29 winners in all against an outclassed opponent.
Both won first-round singles matches Monday.
Police said that extra officers would be on duty patrolling the area, while road closures and a “highly mobile reserve that can respond to emerging incidents” were also in place. But its all within the rules..
Day 1 at Wimbledon is upon us, and Novak Djokovic is first up on Centre Court.
On the first day of the 2015 championships, security was stepped up in the aftermath of the weekend jihadist killings of 38 tourists in Tunisia, most of whom were British. Since then, Serena’s won the USA, Australian and French Open singles titles. After a warm embrace with Nieminen at the net, Hewitt went back onto the court without his racket to acknowledge the loud ovation and wave to the fans.
Wawrinka, fresh from his French Open win, completes play on Centre Court by facing Portugal’s Joao Sousa. Wawrinka could face Djokovic in the semifinals.
When she trailed the world No113 Gasparyan 3-1 in the first set here, the Serena Slam seemed a long way off as the American’s feet refused to move. So did 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and two other major title winners and ex- No. 1-ranked women, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic.
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No reason was given for the withdrawal of the 12th seeds.
