Tennis News

Following a storming start to her Wimbledon campaign this season, defending champ Petra Kvitova will move on to the second round of the tournament, where she will come up against Japan’s Kurumi Nara. The two competitors have never stepped across the court from each other on the professional tour.

Seeded second at this year’s event, Petra Kvitova cruised into the second round of the tournament following a straight sets win against Kiki Bertens. Kvitova took a 3-0 lead in the opening set before losing the only game in the match to close out the contest 6-1, 6-0. The match lasted 35 minutes, which makes it the quickest match to take place this season on the WTA tour.

“Actually I would be quite happy if nerves were always going to be like this!” Kvitova said. “It wasn’t really easy, especially before the match – I had never played her before, and I didn’t really know what I should expect, but I served really well, and I’m glad about how I played out there. She had a really big forehand – she hit some really good serves as well. She has really good power. Practice at the end of last week was going well, so that was a good sign for me.”

Kvitova will next encounter Kurumi Nara, who defeated Magda Linette by retirement after the Polish player was forced to stop the match due to a left thigh injury. She was 3-6, 6-3, 64-3 in the match at the time of retirement.

“She’s kind of small and plays flat shots,” Kvitova said about Nara. “The grass can suit her game, for sure.”

This marks the first time that Kvitova and Nara will come across each other on the professional tour. Given Kvitova’s form, this should be a particular match that favours the Czech in spades.

Caroline Wozniacki was forced to contest one of the toughest opening sets in the first round of the ladies singles draw at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, yet she was able to work her way through the match to set up a second round encounter against Denisa Allertova. This will mark the first time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour.

In a surprising display on court, Caroline Wozniacki, the fifth seed at Wimbledon, found herself in a fight on Tuesday night, as she was forced to work her way down from a double break deficit in the opening set to beat Zheng Saisai. From there, te Dane found her confidence and stormed to a bagel set in the second to close out the contest 7-5 6-0.

“I’m just happy to be out there on Centre Court,” Wozniacki said. “It was a bit of a shaky start – it was tough to see with the sun coming down – and that didn’t help with the nerves. But I managed to fight for every point and in the end I played well.

“You just want to make a good start to Wimbledon, it’s always tricky in the first round, so I’m happy with how I turned it around and really stepped it up in the second set.”

Wozniacki will come up against Denisa Allertova, who needed three sets to defeat Siniakova. She won the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 56 minutes, which included 22 winners and 37 unforced errors.

This will mark the first time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour. While anything is possible in a match, Wozniacki proved that she is capable to dealing with trouble in a contest and should be able to find her way into the third round of the Championships.

After needing four sets to work his way into the second round of the Wimbledon Championships, Tomas Berdych will come up against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to determine who will be one match away from the second week at The All England Club. This marks the sixth time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Berdych leading the series with a undefeated head-to-head record of 5-0.

The 2010 runner up at the Championships found himself faced with a surprisingly difficult task in his opening round match against Jeremy Chardy at the prestigious grass court Grand Slam event. Berdych fired 55 winners, 16 aces and saved four of the five break points he faced to close out the match in three hours and 11 minutes. He eventually did so with a final score of 6-2, 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 7-6(5).

“The conditions were extremely tough… from the beginning,” said Berdych. “The opponent was playing really good tennis. It was a good test for me to start with.”

Berdych will come up against Nicolas Mahut, who reached the second round at Wimbledon following a four set win against Filip Krajinovic. Following a solid match overall, which included 14 aces, 55 winners and 36 unforced errors, Mahut closed out the contest 7-6(4), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 46 minutes.

This marks the sixth time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Berdych leading the series with a undefeated head-to-head record of 5-0. Their last meeting took place at the 2014 Rotterdam Open, which Berdych won with little fuss. In fact, the Frenchman has never been able to take a set off Berdych in 11 years worth of matches. While this is their first ever meeting not on a hard court, it is unlikely that much will change this time around.

Following a solid start to his grass court campaign at the All England Club, two-time champion Rafael Nadal will further his campaign with a second round match-up against the always dangerous German Dustin Brown. This is just the second time these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour with Brown leading the head-to-head series 1-0 following a win at Halle last season.

For the first time since being seeded at the tournament for the first time, Rafael Nadal will have to deal with the draw of a No. 10 seed, as he began his campaign against Thomaz Bellucci, whom he defeated in straight sets. Nadal downed the Brazilian 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 10 minutes. Nadal struck 21 winners and saved four break points during the encounter.

“I think I played okay; played well, played solid,” said Nadal. “I am a little bit more confident now than I was few months ago. [It’s] just day by day for me. Obviously victories help.”

“It is difficult to think about how the match going to be; he’s not a usual player,” Nadal said of his next opponent. “Anything can happen. He beat me last year in Halle. It is little bit different, the surface and everything. He’s a tough player. He won today against good opponent. Probably he will come with good confidence. I’m going to try to be ready for it.”

Nadal’s upcoming opponent, Dustin Brown, defeated Yen-Hsun Lu in four sets after dropping the first set. He won the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round for the second time in his career.

This is the second time these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, and should be a highly intriguing contest, as it serves the purpose of gauging Nadal’s readiness for Wimbledon. Given that Nadal lost to Brown at last year’s Halle tournament, it will be interesting to see how he handles the rematch and if he is capable of avenging his loss en route to the third round of the tournament.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic extended the great Wimbledon tradition on Monday afternoon when he was the first player out on court to open up the 2015 edition of The Championships. Following a straightforward affair, the world No. 1 is through to the second round of the tournament, where he will encounter Jarkko Nieminen, whom he has faced on sixth previous occasions and leads 5-1 in the head to head.

It was business as usual for the top seed at SW19, as Novak Djokovic managed to dispatch Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets to advance to the second round of the grass court Slam. It was a solid showing from the Serb given that he was yet to play a professional match on grass this season. He may not heve been at his best but he was certainly good enough to defeat the German.

“It is great to be back in the cradle of our sport,” he said, smiling broadly. “We have this tradition that the champion opens on Centre Court. It is a privilege and an honour. It doesn’t get any bigger than Wimbledon. 2015 Day 1 Highlights, Novak Djokovic v Philip Kohlschreiber “To come back here only conjures up the dearest and the best memories. You have the butterflies and the thoughts that you are coming back to the place where you won last year.”

Djokovic will come up against Jarkko Nieminen, who ousted Lleyton Hewitt for the last time at the Wimbledon Championships on the opening day of action. It was a thrilling five set affair that only got better in quality as the match went on. In the end, Nieminen managed to break serve late in the match to win the encounter 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9.

This is just the seventh time that Djokovic and Nieminen will cross paths on the professional tour, with Djokovic leading the head-to-head series 5-1. Their most recent encounter took place just last month, when Djokovic defeated the Finish competitor in straight sets on the clay courts in at Roland Garros.

World No. 1 Serena Williams is not only an overwhelming favourite with fans and pundits to win this year’s Wimbledon Championships, she is also in the hunt for a calendar Grand Slam. However, she first has to get past her second round opponent Timea Babos, whom she has never met previously on the professional tour.

It was a turbulent Monday afternoon for Serena Williams, who had to withstand the imposing gameplay from Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan to secure her place in the second round of the tournament. The Russian held a 3-1 lead in the first set and a 4-1 lead in the second but was unable to deny Williams a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the end.

“She played really well,” Williams said. “She also had a few matches under her belt from the qualifying, so she was ready for the grass. She got off to a really fast start. She was playing really well today. “I would be lying if I said I wanted a hard match, of course, but I think it’s good for me. At the end of the day, it’s definitely good for me. But no one really wants to be in any sort of difficult match!”

“She was just hitting a lot of winners,” she said. “When the first set was over, she actually hit more winners than I did. Usually I’m really quick and I get to those shots, but they were just so cleanly hit that I wasn’t able to get to them as fast as I wanted to. There was nothing I could do about them.”

Williams will next come up against Timea Babos, who reached the second round following a straight sets win against Cetkovska. She won the match 7-6, 6-3 in one hour and 19 minutes.

This marks the first time that Williams and Babos will cross paths in the professional tour and should be a match that heavily favours the American. She has proven to be a dominant force in 2015 and it is unlikely that Babos will be the one to usurp Williams.

For the first time in their respective professional careers, Stan Wawrinka and Victor Estrella Burgos will cross paths on the tour to determine who will advance to the following stage of the tournament – not just any old tournament – but the Wimbledon Championships, where the victor will be one match away from a spot in the second week of the prestigious grass court event.

Seeded fourth at this year’s Championships, Stan Wawrinka played as though he belonged in the Big Four. He faced no break points en route to a straight sets win against Joao Sousa. It was basically a repeat of their opening round match at last year’s tournament, and ended 6-2, 7-5, 7-6(3). He hit 45 winners and broke serve on six occasions to win the match in one hour and 48 minutes.

“When I was younger, up until age 19 maybe, I only played on clay, so from the baseline I needed to have time to prepared my shots,” revealed Wawrinka. “It took some time for me to feel comfortable on faster surfaces. On grass it’s important to be aggressive, play close to the baseline and pressure your opponent. I had the find the solutions over the years, and now I am able to play my best tennis on grass as well.”

Wawrinka will come up against Burgos, who defeated Benjamin Becker 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. The world No. 40 has had a historic year on the tour so far and would love to add an upset of the reigning French Open champion to his resume.

This marks the first time that Wawrinak and Burgos will cross paths on the professional tour and is a pressure-filled contest that will determine who will advance to the third round of the Wimbledon Championships. Given Wawrinka’s form, he should have little trouble downing the aged veteran.

Following strong showings in their first round matches, Milos Raonic and Tommy Haas will cross paths in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships. This serves as just the second time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour with Raonic leading the head-to-head series 1-0 with a win back in 2013 at the San Jose final.

Kicking off his campaign on Monday afternoon, Milos Raonic defeated Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets. He struck 25 aces to win the match 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and six minutes.

“I don’t really think I actually served that well,” he said. “I just lacked a little bit of intensity and discipline in the right parts of my game. I think it sort of showed, because I would have to dig out of a few problems a few times love/30, break points, maybe situations that I wouldn’t normally let myself get into.”

Apart from reaching the second round of the tournament, Tommy Haas made a little bit of history as the oldest man to win a match at the Wimbledon Championships since 1991. He needed four sets to get past Dusan Lajovic but was able to do so in the end. However, Raonic does not expect age to be a factor in their second round encounter.

“He’s been doing some great things really, so I think age is irrelevant,” said Raonic. “I’ve just got to face Tommy and try to play my best.”

This marks just the second time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour with Raonic leading the head-to-head series 1-0 with a win back in 2013 at the San Jose final. He won the contest in straight sets but will now come across the German for the first time on grass, which is an entirely different task.