The first day of Slams are always hectic but Tuesday was slightly stunted by the rain which arrived at 4.30pm and wiped out play on the outside courts. With Wednesday’s forecast also looking dodgy, suddenly a backlog of matches looks likely. Hopefully the weather will abate to at least get all the first round matches finished tomorrow. Tuesday was a surprisingly routine day with all 16 seeds in action across both draws progressing to the second round. Read on for Tuesday’s Set Points…

Serena Williams opened the defence of her Wimbledon title with a 6-2 6-4 victory over the qualifier, Amra Sadikovic. After saving break points in the first set, Serena went on an absolute tear, crushing away returns and winning 13 straight points. Once Sadikovic got on the board it was a pretty competitive match. The Swiss player showcased her variety and got plenty of support from the crowd. Serena didn’t play her best match and was pretty fraught at times, but a win is a win. Serena won the match on a hawkeye challenge and the pair shared a nice embrace at the net.

In case you missed it, here is Sadikovic’s story.

Dominika Cibulkova and Daria Gavrilova finished their first round matches within 30 seconds of each other to set up an enticing second round tie… count me in! Cibulkova overcome Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 7-5 6-3 in a high quality match with some super shotmaking. Gavrilova had a far tougher match, coming back from a set and a break down to eventually wear down her opponent, Qiang Wang, 2-6 6-3 6-4.

The second match on court 3 was a humdinger as Roberta Vinci won her first match since Nurnberg, recovering from a break down in the third set to defeat Alison Riske, 6-2 5-7 6-3. Vinci had actually looked in control, playing a solid opener as Riske hit three winners to 15 unforced errors and finished with back-to-back double faults. The American kept plugging away and started to make some inroads, securing an excellent hold to 4-4. At 5-5, she made her move with Vinci freezing somewhat. Riske had the momentum in the decider, going up an early break, but Vinci wrestled it back, playing more aggressively and making more net approaches. In a tense and exciting final game, Vinci sealed the victory on her fourth match point.

In a match previewed here on Moo’s Tennis Blog, Elena Vesnina defeated Tamira Paszek in straight sets, 7-5 6-2. Vesnina had lost four straight games to go from 3-1 to 3-5. Paszek was unable to serve out the set, miscuing a shot wide on break point as Vesnina zoned to win the last four straight games. Vesnina also won the last four games of the second set to seal her spot in the second round where she will play Andrea Petkovic or Nao Hibino (Petko lead 5-1 in the decider).

As the rain started to fall, the third match of the day on Centre Court between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki was taken indoors. Wozniacki showed some encouraging signs through the middle of the first set but tailed off from 5-5 in the first set. Kuznetsova was just too good, winning the opener and then overcoming a late wobble to prevail in straight sets, 7-5 6-4. Kuznetsova will play the Brit, Tara Moore in the second round.

The final match moved to Centre Court had an electric finish as CoCo Vandeweghe defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2 7-6(3). The match had been mostly serve dominated with few rallies. The last ten to fifteen minutes of the match was the best tennis i’ve seen at Wimbledon this year. Bondarenko took an almighty tumble on the grass just before the tiebreak as she slipped running up to a ball. She still kept fighting hard in the tiebreak but looked a little shaken. The rallies were hard hitting but saw both players use every inch of the court. Vandeweghe was peak in the tiebreak and goes through to face Timea Babos in another sure-to-be heavy hitting clash.

On the ATP side of results, Nick Kyrgios set up a DREAMY second round match with Dustin Brown. I’m going to Wimbledon on Thursday so i’m hoping it could get No.2 court although probably unlikely, especially with the weather. There was a bit of Kyrgios-related drama when he was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct after losing the third set, but he flew through the fourth set  to beat Radek Stepanek, 6-4 6-3 6-7(9) 6-1.

Kyrgios-Stepanek had some fun moments…

It was great to watch some of Delpo’s match today who beat Stephane Robert, 6-1 7-5 6-0… the final set took less than 19 minutes. There was a bizarre moment at the end of the second set on a DelPo set point. One of the Argentine’s shots was called long but Hawkeye showed it to be in. The umpire called the point to be replayed, but after a discussion with Robert, the Frenchman seemed to give the point (and set) to DelPo. On the replay, it showed that Robert actually hit the ball back into court. Roberta put up an alarming lack of resistance but i’m happy for Delpo.

Next up for the big man is a BIG showdown with Stan Wawrinka who needed four sets to get past Taylor Fritz. A couple of super ATP matches set for Thursday.

Marcus Willis has been the story of the men’s tournament so far. In case you didn’t  see it, here’s his press conference after a first round win over Ricardas Berankis. His reaction to playing Federer in the second round was classic!

A bit of reading on the players who have yet to take to the court… Enjoyed this read on Petra where she revealed that she does all the cleaning in her house for Wimby! I’m stunned that she is out on court 18 tomorrow.

This was a nice piece with Belinda and thanks to @FanofBencic on Twitter for sharing.

As a fan of the WTA, i’m delighted to see two women’s matches were scheduled on both Centre and No.1 Court on Tuesday. In fact, Centre had three women’s matches! Sometimes the women’s matches are more enticing than the men’s or vice-versa so this is an encouraging sight that the schedule has reflected the quality of the matches on show. Keep it up, Wimbledon!

If the weather holds up, Wednesday will be awesome.

Sabine Lisicki talks about her match-up with Sam Stosur, which is fourth up on court 18 on Wednesday. I think i’m going with Lisicki in that one, but do share your opinion in the poll!

 

And finally, you can check out my round-up from day 1 on the outside courts by clicking on the link below.

Follow Moo’s Tennis Blog on Twitter (@Moo_Tennis) HERE and Facebook HERE.