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Wimbledon’s “Most Exciting Opening Day”, Says Cahill
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
ESPN’s Darren Cahill called it the “most exciting opening day” in the history of Wimbledon and wow was he right. Alejandro Falla was just a couple of shots away from possibly the biggest upset in tennis history but Roger Federer, down two sets and 0-40 at 4-4 in the third, suddenly pulls the rabbit out of his hat.
Lleyton Hewitt, fresh off a big win over Roger in Halle, and a potential dark horse contender for the title, blows the first set to a man who has never won a pro match on grass but recovers to defeat Maximo Gonzalez in four sets.
Lefty Laura Robson shows us another flash of her enormous potential with a competitive showing vs. Jelena Jankovic, before losing 63 76. 16-year-old Robson burst on the scene in January in Perth, Australia as she won her Hopman Cup final singles match against lefty Maria Martinez Sanchez of Spain who was unbeaten up to that point in the event (teammate Andy Murray was defeated by Robredo and the Brits lost the mixed doubles). It’s been 33 years since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon, and when you think about who might be the next Brit to do it, Robson could be the one.
#4 seed Novak Djokovic struggled mightily with another subpar performance against Olivier Rochus, until awakening down 2-0 in the fifth. He battled back to level it and then on break point, after a titanic rally, converted an amazing forehand volley at his feet cross court to take the lead. Djokovic roared like a lion and fist-pumped like he used to, as he seemed to gain power and strength from the exhausting but critical point. It might get a lot tougher though, with the big-serving Taylor Dent waiting in round two.
Mardy Fish continued his fine grass court form with another quietly dominating win, straight sets over Bernard Tomic.
The French Open champ Francesca Schiavone (#5 seed) fell victim to a tough draw and was eliminated in three sets by the always tough Vera Dushevina.
Kim Clijsters showed no signs of rust in her return to big time tennis with an easy win over Maria Elena Camerin.
Shahar Peer continues her very strong 2010 season by sending Ana Ivanovic home with a 63 64 win.
In a big surprise, #11 Marin Cilic bowed out meekly to Florian Mayer in three sets.
Andy Roddick and Justine Henin open their campaigns to be first time Wimbledon winners with a pair of sharp performances.
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Dan Markowitz · June 22, 2010 at 5:44 am
It was an eventful opening day for Wimbledon. What were the odds Failla would upset Federer, like 50 to 1? Federer couldn’t seem to hit aces at will like he did against Roddick in last year’s final. I can’t see how Federer will now go on and win the tournament after playing so poorly against a lower-level opponent, but stranger things have happened. Nadal must be licking his chops after seeing how much havoc Failla’s lefty delivery out wide to Fed’s backhand produced on the ad box.
Cilic losing to Florian Mayer also boggles the mind. I was interested to see how Rajeev Ram would do against Roddick after watching Ram dismantle Querrey in the Newport finals after losing the first set to Sam. But Ram is either not that good, or Roddick is really good, or Ram got fazed by the surroundings.
Jesse Levine looked pretty good against Lopez for two sets, but it’s hard to beat the Spaniard on grass. Davydenko amazingly pulled off a five-set victory against giant Kevin Anderson, who held a two-set lead and then took Davydenko to 9-7 in the 5th. Djokovic looked almost comically bad in the fifth set, missing a second serve by a half a box and missing an easy forehand groundie at the net. You can stick a fork in Djoko, something is way out of whack with the Serb. He’s wearing a wooden cross around his neck now and he needs to start praying seriously.
Scoop Malinowski · June 22, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Djokovic is an enigma. He was SO impressive three years ago how he was handling Roger, but he is a shell of that player now. Somehow he regrouped to beat Rochus but he shouuld have blown the lil fella off the court in three sets. Djokovic has lost his confidence probably, no BIG important wins is years. I guess so many tough losses in slams and Davis Cup have eroded his confidence that he can be the best, which he openly stated was his goal. Such a disappointment to see a huge talent play such subpar mediocre tennis.