Canada’s Raonic advances at Wimbledon
Canadians win four first-round singles matches
WIMBLEDON — Milos Raonic capped an impressive start by Canadian players at Wimbledon with a straight-sets victory over Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq on Tuesday at the All-England Club.
Raonic, the No. 17 seed from Thornhill, Ont., needed less than two hours to complete the 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win to become the fourth Canadian to reach the second round at the Grand Slam event this week.
It has been 25 years since four Canadians won first-round singles matches at the same major. Sebastien Lareau, Daniel Nestor, Sonya Jeyaseelan and Jana Nejedly last accomplished the feat at the Australian Open in 1988.
Raonic, who has struggled to get his grass-court game in form, said he was happy with the way he played Tuesday.
“My game feels a lot better than last week,” Raonic said. “We worked on a lot of things. Also, this is a grand slam and you bite down harder.”
The 22-year-old had 19 aces and just 18 unforced errors in the match.
“I kept the pressure on (Berlocq) the whole time,” Raonic said. “I’m feeling much more comfortable on grass. I’ve had moments in the past when I doubted myself, but I’m playing with more peace and confidence.”
Raonic’s next opponent will be Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, who beat American Alex Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Ottawa’s Jesse Levine also won his opening match Tuesday, a day after Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard posted victories.
Levine defeated Guido Pella of Argentina 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 4-3. Pella had to be helped off the court midway through the fifth set with an apparent hamstring injury. The match lasted nearly three hours as the 112th-ranked Levine advanced to the second round for the second straight year.
Also Tuesday, five-time champion Serena Williams began her Wimbledon title defence with a routine 6-1, 6-3 victory over Mandy Minella of Luxembourg.
“For me, it’s the greatest moment for a tennis player, to walk out on Centre Court,” Williams said after her first match at Wimbledon since winning Olympic gold here last year. “That was such a great moment, too. So many great memories on this court.”
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic also opened his campaign with a straight-sets victory, beating Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Mayer is a two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist but never looked like causing another major upset a day after Rafael Nadal’s stunning firstround exit.
Djokovic took a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke for a 6-5 lead in the second to take firm control. He served out the match to love before saluting the Centre Court crowd with a fist pump.
“It was a big pleasure again performing here on Centre Court in front of the packed crowd,” Djokovic said. “For the first round, it was tricky. ... I think (Mayer’s) game is really well suited for grass, so it took a lot of effort.”
For Williams, this was a chance to put the focus firmly back on tennis following the recent verbal jousting with Maria Sharapova over their private lives — and comments about a high-profile rape case which she apologized for — and the American took full advantage.
As usual on grass, the topranked Williams dominated with her hard serve, winning the first set without dropping a single point on her service game. Her main weapon let her down only at the start of the second set, when Minella was able to take a 2-0 lead when Williams double-faulted on break point.
She was one point from going down 3-0 but then won 15 of the next 18 points to take a 4-2 lead, and broke again to wrap up the win.
The only top player with any sort of difficulty advancing was French Open runner-up David Ferrer, who overcame a second-set slump and a scary late fall to beat Martin Alund of Argentina 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Most other matches on Tuesday also went according to plan.
Eighth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro made a winning return to Grand Slam competition on Tuesday, defeating Albert Ramos of Spain 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 after sitting out the French Open because of respiratory problems.
No. 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany was the highest seeded man to be eliminated. Kohlschreiber wasted a twoset lead against Ivan Dodig of Croatia before retiring in the fifth, saying he was exhausted by a bout of flu.
In the women’s draw, last year’s runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Yvonne Meusburger of Austria, while sixth-seeded Li Na of China and No. 7 Angelique Kerber of Germany also advanced in straight sets.
Home favourite Laura Robson delivered the biggest upset, beating 10th-seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4 to become the first British woman to beat a top-10 ranked opponent at Wimbledon in 15 years.
“It was nerve-racking before I served for it,” Robson said. “I just wanted to focus and take it point by point. Any big win gives you a lot of confidence.”
In less of a surprise, Arantxa Rus lost — again. The 156thranked Dutch player equalled a WTA record by extending her losing streak to 17 straight matches with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Russia’s Olga Puchkova.
“This year is not a good year for me,” Rus said.
Nestor, from Toronto, and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden are the sixth-seeded men’s doubles team. They will open against Mikhail Elgin of Russia and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.