Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang advanced to the third round of the men’s singles at Wimbledon for the first time on Wednesday after beating Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
World No. 147 Wang, 29, was so elated after overcoming the No. 17 seed in 3 hours, 3 minutes that he went to hug his coach, Dejan Petrovic, who was seated next to the spectators.
In an interview with the Central News Agency, Wang said the win was “particularly important” as he had been unable to take part in his favorite tournament from 2008 to 2011 due to injury.
Photo: EPA
He next faces the winner of a rain-suspended second-round match between France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 14 seed, and Sam Querrey of the US.
However, there was bad news for Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun in the men’s doubles when he and partner Divij Sharan of India let a two-set lead slip to lose 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-2 to Britain’s Jamie Delgado and Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
On Court One, the champagne cork that popped in the first game of Andy Murray’s thrashing of Blaz Rola may have been premature, but the defending Wimbledon champion has already thrown down the gauntlet to his rivals.
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Fans toasted the home favorite as he arrived on court for his second-round match and were then royally entertained as Murray rolled over Rola 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 for his 15th win in a row at the All England Lawn Tennis Club since his defeat by Roger Federer in the 2012 final — and the easiest.
When Murray lost to Stepanek at nearby Queen’s Club two weeks ago, it caused some furrowed brows among his followers, but Rola, playing only his fourth grass-court match, never looked capable of troubling the champion.
In total control, Murray pummeled away backhands, produced delicate lobs and those grass-hugging slices that have driven far better opponents than Rola to distraction.
Photo: AFP
Former US college student Rola, playing against a top 20 player for the first time, had the temerity to earn a break point in each of the first two sets. Both times Murray responded with a booming ace.
“When you are in a position to win a match like that, you have to try and do it as quickly as possible, because all of the players in this tournament are good players,” Murray, whose next opponent is to be Spanish 27th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, told reporters.
Lurking in Murray’s quarter is 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov, a Bulgarian who has also yet to drop a set after his confident 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Australian upstart Luke Saville put him in the Wimbledon third round for the first time.
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Last year’s beaten finalist Novak Djokovic will be desperate to quell the latest outbreak of Murray mania should they meet in the semi-finals next week, but on Wednesday the Serbian top seed was simply happy to squeeze past Czech veteran Radek Stepanek.
Djokovic was in control against the wily 35-year-old for two sets, but his unorthodox opponent dipped into his bag of tricks to snatch the third in a tiebreak and came within a whisker of dragging the 2011 champion into a nervy decider.
No wonder Djokovic, who showed remarkable sportsmanship by conceding a crucial point in the fourth set, looked a relieved man as he walked off with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5) victory.
Photo: AFP
“On the one hand it was fun to be part of, but on the other I should not have complicated my life,” Djokovic said.
A year after the mayhem that saw seeds stumble and fall in all directions on what became known as “Wipeout Wednesday,” it proved a less dramatic third day this time, despite the best efforts of crowd-pleasing Stepanek, but there were still plenty of upsets.
Spain’s David Ferrer, seeded seven, watched 77 winners fly off rising Russian Andrey Kuznetsov’s racket as he lost a five-setter that marked his earliest Grand Slam exit since 2010.
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Tomas Berdych was made to work far harder against Saville’s more established compatriot Bernard Tomic, the Czech prevailing in four sets, as he did when the pair met in the round-of-16 last year, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
The sixth seed’s reward is what should be another tough match in the third round, this time against Croatian Marin Cilic.
In the women’s singles, Petra Kvitova hurried past Germany’s Mona Barthel 6-2, 6-0 to set up a third-round clash with former champion Venus Williams.
Women’s eighth seed and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka still looked rusty after a long injury layoff and was knocked out by Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski.
A match full of shrieks, groans and grunts from two of the noisiest players on the women’s Tour seemed to have swung Azarenka’s way when she leveled after a slow start, but she then slipped to a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 defeat.
In the women’s singles, five-time champion Serena Williams wasted no time in reaching the third round, routing Chanelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-1 in just 49 minutes.
Chasing her 18th Grand Slam title, the top-seeded American overwhelmed the South African world No. 94 in the opening match on Court One.
Serena Williams served eight aces and had 26 winners.
The 30-year-old Scheepers, who had never won a match at Wimbledon until this week, had only five winners to go with 13 unforced errors.
Serena Williams next faces French 25th seed Alize Cornet, who battled past Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
In yesterday’s early men’s singles matches, Kei Nishikori surged into the third round after the Japanese 10th seed thrashed qualifier Denis Kudla of the US 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
Nishikori has never gone past the third round at the All England Club in five attempts, but the world No. 12 looks a good bet to end that frustrating run this year.
He was far too strong for Kudla, hitting 40 winners to just 14 from the world No. 136, and has not dropped a set in his opening two matches.
The 24-year-old next faces German 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber or Italy’s Simone Bolelli for a place in the round-of-16.
Nishikori’s pre-Wimbledon grass-court practice sessions with coach Michael Chang appear to be paying dividends already.
Following that intense training period with former French Open champion Chang, Nishikori reached the Halle semi-finals on grass.
Nishikori, who underlined his emerging talent by reaching his first Masters final — in Madrid against Rafael Nadal last month — took the first set with two early breaks.
Another pair of breaks in the second set cemented his advantage and he cruised to victory in 1 hour, 28 minutes on Court 18.
Also advancing early yesterday was eighth seed Milos Raonic of Canada, who cruised past Jack Sock of the US 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
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