It was a mark of her desperation that she let out a loud “c’mon” after a routine serve went unreturned at the start of the third game as Williams belatedly found her rhythm.
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Serena, coming off a 6-4, 6-1 win over qualifier Margarita Gasparyan in the first round, gave the answer anyone who knows her might expect about a possible match against Venus in the fourth round.
“It was his last Wimbledon so I congratulated him on a great career”, said Djokovic after firing 36 winners. “This is the cradle of our sport, Centre Court. It doesn’t get any bigger than Wimbledon,” he said.
The All England Club’s classy upgrades over the last 10 years have turned it into a magnificent venue for watching top-level tennis in an English country garden setting.
Federer sped through his Wimbledon opener against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, a player he also beat during the French Open last month.
Serena Williams of the United States plays a return to Margarita Gasparyan of Russian Federation during their women’s singles first round match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday June 29, 2015.
Women’s world No 1 Serena Williams overcame a slow start yesterday to advance to the second round 6-4, 6-1. She should be giving out the advice.
Williams then began to dominate and soon broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set when Gasparyan failed to deal with the speed of her opponent’s strokes and netted another forehand.
“I knew she would be a good player”, Williams said. “I’ve done so well here in the past so I’ll always have so many good memories here”, Williams said.
Serena and Venus on Tuesday withdrew from the Wimbledon women’s doubles, a title they have won five times.
Her sister and five-time champion Venus Williams also advanced with an comfortable victory over Madison Brengle, 6-0, 6-0 in just 42 minutes.
But the Serb was rarely troubled, seizing command with his all-court game, serving 12 aces and breaking five times.
Djokovic, who now faces Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the second round, came under fire after his coach Boris Becker suggested they had secret signals to communicate with each other during matches. That’s not going to be an easy match.
“Naturally it’s definitely getting more on my mind than I want it to be”.
Williams admitted: “I think she played really well. But it’s all within the rules”.
He won his first ATP singles title at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston and reached the Round of 16 at the French Open, where he became just the second American ever to take a set from Rafael Nadal.
Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion at the All England Club, will be up against Johanna Konta of Britain in the main stadium.
“Ultimately, I’m taking it one day at a time and I’m not thinking that far”.
“I didn’t leave any stone unturned preparing”, said the 34-year-old Hewitt, who has announced to retire after next year’s Australian Open.
Fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the recent French Open champion, prevailed against Joao Sousa of Portugal, 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (3). Wawrinka could face Djokovic in the semifinals. The seven-time Wimbledon champion is the No. 2 seed and going for his 18th Grand Slam title on his favorite surface.
The highest-seeded player eliminated was No. 9 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, who fell 6-2, 6-0 to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
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Additional wins came for the aforementioned Watson, France’s Kristina Mladenovic, Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas and Sloane Stephens, who dismissed fellow American Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-4.
