Straight-set wins for Kerber, Raonic

LONDON — Last year’s runners-upwereupfirst on the main showcourts at Wimbledon on Tuesday, and both came through in straight sets.

World No. 1 Angelique Kerber, playing in the spot on Centre Court normally reserved for the defending women’s champion, beat Irina Falconi of the United States 6-4, 6-4. On No. 1 Court, Milos Raonic beat Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (4).

“A lot of memories came back when I walk on the Centre Court,” Kerber said. “Playing there again, it’s one of the best courts to play. It’s traditional, so it was really great to be back.”

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who own a combined10 titles at the All England Club, didn’t even need three sets to advance. They both reached the second round when their opponents retired from their matches in the second set.

Kerber stepped in to the spot on Centre Court on Day 2 in place of Serena Williams, the defending champion who is out for the rest of the season because she is pregnant.

Djokovic followed on Centre Court, leading 6-3, 2-0 when Martin Klizan stopped because of injury. The second-seeded Serb was leading 30-0 in the third game of the second.

The victory put Djokovic alone into second place on the list of Grand Slam match wins, one ahead of Jimmy Connors, with 234.

Federer, the leader on that list with 315, was leading 6-3, 3-0 when Alexandr Dolgopolov retired.

Raonic came toWimbledon after playing only one match on grass, a firstround loss at Queen’s Club. The last time he failed to win a match on grass prior to Wimbledon, in 2014, he reached the semifinals. Last year he did even better than that, reaching the final and losing to AndyMurray in straight sets.

Raonic said he made good use of his time since that early exit at Queen’s Club, however.

“Spent a lot more time training,” Raonic said. “I was spending a lot of days practicing. I was just getting more and more eager for this tournament to start because there were a lot of days in a row.”