Konta, Del Potro advance
WIMBLEDON British No 1 stretched by Russian rival; Argentine maintains record of not losing Ist round LONDON: HARARE:
British number one Johanna Konta made hard work of beating 103rd-ranked Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva 7-5, 7-6(7) in her opening match at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Konta, a semi-finalist last year, lost control of a match she seemed to have in her pocket and was mightily relieved to escape a sticky Court Two with victory, having squandered five match points in the second-set tiebreak.
With Andy Murray missing, Konta, seeded 22, and men’s 21st seed Kyle Edmund are shouldering the hopes of the home nation -a burden Konta seemed to be handling well for a set-and-a-half against tricky 21-year-old Vikhlyantseva.
She broke serve at 5-5 on her way to taking a tight opening set and had points for a double-break in the second set when Vikhlyantseva served at 2-4.
Konta failed to push home her advantage, however, and dropped serve in the next game.
Vikhlyantseva then held and Konta found herself in a difficult situation at 4-5 when she failed to punish a short ball and saw a backhand winner flash past her.
She saved the set point with a superb deep forehand from wide but a crass attempt at a dropshot handed Vikhlyantseva another chance to take the match into a decider.
Konta saved that one too but in the tiebreak she let a 6-2 lead evaporate and then served a double-fault at 7-6. She got the job done at the sixth attempt though with an easy volley into an open court.
DEL POTRO MAINTAINS RECORD
Juan Martin del Potro maintained his record of never losing in the first round at Wimbledon. The fifth-seeded Argentine beat
Australia captain Aaron Finch revelled in his recordbreaking innings against Zimbabwe, saying it was “up there” as one of the best innings he has ever played.
Finch powered his way to 172, beating his own world record high score in Twenty20 Internationals. Finch and fellow opener D’Arcy Short put on 223, another world record.
Australia reached 229 for two, the highest total ever scored against Zimbabwe in a T20 international as a slew of records were broken during Australia’s 100run victory.
“It’s nice to break my own record,” said
Finch. “Satisfying.
It’s something Aaron Finch, Aus vs Zim, 2018
Aaron Finch, Aus vs Eng, 2013
Glenn Maxwell, Aus vs SL, 2016
Evin Lewis, WI vs Ind, 2017
Shane Watson, Aus vs Ind, 2016 Peter Gojowczyk of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with Feliciano Lopez. It was del Potro’s first grass-court match of the season after withdrawing from Queen’s with a groin injury, but the former US Open champion used his big serve to dominate the match --hitting 22 aces and saving all four break points he faced.
Del Potro has reached at least the second round in all nine of his Wimbledon appearances and reached the semifinals in 2013.
LOPEZ TRIUMPHS
Feliciano Lopez set a new record for consecutive Grand Slam appearances on Tuesday when he started his 66th major in a row.
The 36-year-old left-handed Spaniard had equalled Roger Federer’s mark at Roland Garros this year. On Tuesday, the 70thranked Lopez grabbed the record outright when he faced Federico Delbonis of Argentina at the All England Club before completing a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win.
Lopez has not missed a Slam since making his debut at the 2001 French Open. “When I was about to break the record, I thought, wow, I’m going to beat Federer at something!” joked Lopez who has lost all 13 matches he has played against Federer in his career.
Lopez admitted that playing at the same time as Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had helped inspire him to keep going despite never making the semis of a Slam or breaking the world’s top 10. “The most important thing is to stay healthy.”