Three-time champion Venus Williams came back from a break down in the last two sets to avoid a major first-round surprise on Tuesday against a Russian teenager playing her first match at Wimbledon.
Williams appeared on the brink of defeat, but came up with big first serves and baseline winners on crucial points to overcome Alla Kudryavtseva 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in nearly two hours on Court 2 -- known as the "Graveyard of Champions" for its history of upsets.
Williams was two points from defeat while serving at 5-4 down, 30-30, in the final set. But the Russian missed a backhand, and Williams smacked a 192kph service winner to hold. Williams then broke in the next game and served out the match at love.
"I enjoy the battle," Williams said. "I enjoy winning matches like this. This is what I do. If you want to be successful at anything, it doesn't come easy."
Another Wimbledon women's champions had a much easier time in reaching the second round. The defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, beat Jamea Jackson of the US 6-1, 6-3.
In men's play, second-seeded Rafael Nadal and former champion Lleyton Hewitt were among the winners, but Britain's Tim Henman drew the loudest cheers by outlasting Carlos Moya 13-11 in the fifth set.
It took two days for Henman to win his first-round match against Moya.
A double-fault by Moya on the third match point of the 24th game of the set gave Henman a 6-3, 1-6, 5-7, 6-2, 13-11 win that enthralled the Center Court crowd.
Henman, four-time semi-finalist playing in his 14th Wimbledon, had been tied 5-5 with Moya in the fifth set when the first-round match was stopped because of darkness on Monday night. Henman missed four match points at 5-4.
Nadal, coming off his third straight French Open title on clay, looked sharp in his return to the Center Court grass, beating Mardy Fish 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Nadal produced an ace down the middle on match point.
The Spaniard had 40 winners to 15 errors, broke Fish twice and saved the only two break points he faced. Nadal, who lost to Roger Federer in last year's final, is aiming to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1978 and 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.
Hewitt, the only champion in the men's field other than four-time winner Federer, beat British wild card Richard Bloomfield 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.
Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic, No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze were among the women who reached the second round.
In men's play, No. 4 Novak Djokovic defeated Potito Starace of Italy 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 and No. 9 James Blake beat Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Other winners included No. 13 Richard Gasquet, No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic and No. 26 Marat Safin.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite