Top seed Djokovic cruises past Ferrero
Serb dominates with 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 victory to coast into second round; Lethargic Venus falls
LONDON (Reuters) – Men’s champion Novak Djokovic barely broke stride to clear a potentially tricky first hurdle at Wimbledon as he opened Center Court action yesterday but five-times women’s winner Venus Williams’ suffered an ignominious exit.
The 126th edition of the grasscourt grand slam began in virtually perfect weather conditions and with a faultless display by world number one Djokovic who crushed Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
Twelve months after beating another Spaniard, Rafa Nadal on the world’s most famous tennis court to win his first Wimbledon title, Djokovic looked like he had never been away with a clinical display on the pristine lawn.
At about the same time as the Serb was polishing off Ferrero, 32-year-old Williams was experiencing the bitter taste of a first round defeat at a tournament she has so often graced IT WAS a tale of two first-rounds for Novak Djokovic (left) and Venus Williams (right) at Wimbledon yesterday. The Djoker dispatched Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 to ease into the second round, while a fatigued Willaims was shockingly ousted by Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3. since her debut in 1997.
A 6-1, 6-3 defeat by Russian Elena Vesnina was a rather sad sight for fans on the bowl-like Court Two, some of whom had queued from the early hours of the morning to grab a ticket for the more intimate show court.
She went 5-0 down in quick time and trudged around the court with a resigned air against the doubles specialist.
“I feel like I’m a great player but I have to deal with circumstances that other people don’t have to deal with in the sport,” Williams, who finished 2011 outside the world’s top 100 after battling with injury and Sjogren’s syndrome, a littleknown disorder that causes fatigue and joint pain.
“There’s no way I’m just going to sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six freaking tournaments back,” added the former world No. 1 who only returned to action after a seven-month lay-off in March.
There were no alarms for women’s favorite and top seed Maria Sharapova, the newlycrowned French Open champion, as she breezed past Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 6-3.
Roger Federer left Wimbledon debutant Albert Ramos shell-shocked after thrashing him 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 as the Swiss six-times champion enjoyed an easy start to the 2012 tournament yesterday.
Federer, bidding to win a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon crown and a 17th overall grand slam, needed just 79 minutes on Court One to sail through the first round.
Spaniard Ramos, who had played only one previous grasscourt match, was unable to respond to Federer’s skill, though he had one brief spell of fighting back.
Janko Tipsarevic also made it through to the second round, beating David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-6, 6-2.
Samantha Stosur, one of 11 grand slam champions in the women’s singles draw, eased into the second round.
The US Open champion beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-3 while China’s Li Na, the 2011 French Open champion, also dropped just four games against Ksenia Pervak.
Shahar Pe’er and Dudi Sela will play their first round matches on Tuesday, with Pe’er to face No. 22 seed Jolie Goerges in the fourth match on Court 4 and Sela to play Ivo Karlovic in the third match on Court 19. On TV: Wimbledon early-round action: live on Sport5 at 2 p.m. and Sport5+ at 3 p.m.