Tuesday saw the second batch of first round matches take centre stage at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. It was another busy day, but it didn’t feel quite as frantic as Monday with the women’s matches a little more evenly phased during the day. This particular post covers the first quarter of the women’s draw, including Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova, where two seeds fell at the first hurdle on day 2.
There was an early “upset” on Court 8 as Sorana Cirstea knocked out the number 23 seed, Kiki Bertens, 7-6(4) 7-5. It was Cirstea’s fourth consecutive win over Bertens, who was playing her first match since retiring hurt in Mallorca a few weeks ago.
Bertens twice failed to serve out the opener at *5-2 and *5-4, and then missed eight (!) game points at 5-5 in the second set having just broken Cirstea who was serving for the match. Bertens often had the bigger shots, but Cirstea battled terrifically well and won a lot of the key games.
This made me laugh!
Garbiñe Muguruza looked very impressive in a 6-2 6-4 first round win over the unpredictable, Ekaterina Alexandrova. Muguruza served really well with 77% of first serves in. She looked to come forward when the opportunity arose, winning nine of 11 points up at the net. The Spaniard had her intensity back after the shocking loss to Barbora Strycova in Eastbourne. The second set was tight but Muguruza held firm at 4-4 and then accepted a gift at the end from Alexandrova who played a nervy final game.
Highlights of Muguruza-Alexandrova on the Wimbledon YouTube page.
Angelique Kerber is safely into the second round after a 6-4 6-4 win over Irina Falconi on Centre Court. There were some wonderful points in the first set. Falconi has some great touch, but i’ve always felt her tactics and tennis just lack consistency. Kerber will need to improve, but a solid enough start.
In a throwback match out on No. 2 Court, Agnieszka Radwanska got the better of Jelena Jankovic, 7-6(3) 6-1. Jankovic twice served for the first set. Sadly, as has become the norm this year, the Serb’s nerve and mental toughness let her down in the key moments. After dropping the first set on the tiebreak, Radwanska absolutely ran away with the match as Jankovic rather collapsed. A solid start for Aga, but hard to really gauge her level. In press, Radwanska cited the foot injury and a couple of viruses too for her tough year.
Timea Bacsinszky beat Monica Puig, 6-1 3-6 6-0 in just one hour and 20 minutes! Bacsinszky played great in the first and third sets, especially the latter as she dropped just seven points in the decider – the Swiss player won 100% of first serve points, including three aces, and hit 12 winners to 0 unforced errors! Puig took control of the second set with a mid-set break but otherwise, Bacsinszky was very dominant.
I was worried about Safarova’s first match against Oceane Dodin but it proved to be OK as she cruised through 6-2 6-2 in just 51 (!) minutes. Dodin had heavy strapping on her knee, while Safarova seemed fine having retired from her semi-final match in Birmingham with a leg injury. Lucie showed the sharpness in her groundstrokes from her last few matches in Birmingham. She hit 22 winners to 5 unforced errors and produced some fine shots up at the net. I couldn’t have asked for a better day for my faves so i’m happy!
There were big expectations for Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Ons Jabeur, which started late on Court No.2. There were a handful of wonderful points, yet the result was surprisingly one-sided with Kuznetsova winning, 6-3 6-2. Jabeur took a very heavy fall, which she never really recovered from as she hit 25 unforced errors throughout the match. A good win for Kuznetsova and a stunning match point.
In other matches…
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist, Kirsten Flipkens set up a second round date with the world number one with a 6-4 6-3 win over Misaki Doi.
Shelby Rogers won her first ever main draw match at Wimbledon, beating Julia Boserup, 6-3 4-6 6-3 on the unstreamed court 4.
Playing her first competitive match on grass this year, Bethanie Mattek-Sands recovered from a breadstick opening set to beat Magda Linette, 1-6 6-2 6-3.
Yanina Wickmayer came from 1-4 down in the second set and needed five match points to beat Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2 7-5.
Christina McHale enjoyed a rare win, coming from a set down to beat the world #238 Brit, Katie Boulter, 3-6 7-5 6-3.
Kristina Kucova won her first main draw match at Wimbledon since 2009, beating the 17-year-old, Bianca Andreescu, 6-4 6-3.
Varvara Lepchenko beat Lauren Davis for the second time this year in straight sets, 6-4 7-5. Lepchenko fought back from a break down in the first set and two breaks down in the second set.
Polona Hercog won her ninth match in the last ten to comfortably beat Annika Beck, 6-2 6-1.
Without a win on grass so far this year in singles, Ekaterina Makarova dropped just four games in a late evening win over Alison Van Uytvanck. Makarova didn’t face any break points during the 56 minute encounter.
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Loved this feature by the WTA on Petra and it actually gave me goosebumps. Petra is the TBA match for Wednesday.
And finally, found another of Petra’s hot shots from Monday!
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I have good feelings about Sveta for this tournament. I reckon this is the Slam where shes got the least expectations and pressures on her. Last year she probably wouldve gone deeper had she not had Serena in that fourth round on an absolute mission!
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I dont want to jinx her since she seems to go with the flow these days, but it could be good for her this time. From what I can tease out of player’s reactions to the surface, it is not as fast as could be although still a bit slippery. If it allows for more rallies, grounstroke play, should be positive. On the other hand you may need more smart play ifyou decide to go serve and volley. Might suit other players like Svitolina.
At the end of the day, it is still grass and if you run into some inspired young gun cranking up the serves and power play, things could turn sour quickly.
I hope she’s feeling inspired (headspace) and up for the tournament.
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The consensus is that balls are bouncing very low at the moment, which would definitely suit flatter hitters like Pliskova and Kvitova, but over the course of the tournament as the grass thins, the bounce will be much higher, suiting players like Kuznetsova.
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The Rad is looking good at her press conference. Possible due to her makeup sponsor Inglot. More of the girls should get made up before meeting the press.
The Rad’s apparent weight loss could be due to the viruses she talked about.
Pro tennis players should be the healthiest girls on the planet, but they are sick quite often. I wonder if their ill health comes from congested airports, airplanes and shaking hands with 50,000 people a year.
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The standard of health and fitness generally seems much higher on the mens, to me. Obviously Djokovic leads that charge, but I know the top mens players dont drink whereas quite a few of the ladies seem to enjoy to party pretty hard.
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