Towering veteran Ivo Karlovic yesterday flew the flag for a small army of 30-somethings as he put teenager and fellow Croatian Borna Coric firmly in his place at Wimbledon.
The 23rd seed, the second oldest man in the draw at 37, sent down his usual barrage of unreturnable serves on the tight confines of Court Eight, winning 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.
He also demonstrated that he is no one-trick pony, plucking some sensational low volleys way down off his shoelaces and out-witting Coric with his crafty sliced backhand.
Photo: EPA
Coric, part of a new generation of teenagers tipped for the top, could not hide his frustration as he made little impact on the most destructive serve in tennis.
His mood was not helped as he let slip a 6-2 lead in the second-set tiebreak, the 19-year-old raging at his coach and entourage as he went two sets behind.
Karlovic, 2.11m tall, added another 26 aces to the world record 10,825 he had served in his career coming into Wimbledon and needed just a solitary break of serve in the third set to seal an impressive victory.
Karlovic is one of 49 men aged older than 30 in the men’s singles draw — a Wimbledon record.
Marin Cilic’s firepower proved too much for the US’ Brian Baker, as the Croatian cruised to a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 first-round victory.
The 1.98m-tall ninth seed, a quarter-finalist last year, thundered down a series of 209kph-plus serves and stinging forehands to see off the challenge from Baker, ranked a distant 589th in the world.
Cilic, 27, broke serve once in each of the first two sets.
Baker, whose career has been plagued by knee, elbow and hip injuries, had a glimmer of a chance in the second when he too had break points — but Cilic emphatically shut the door with a series of unreturnable serves.
The 31-year-old American’s resistance crumbled in the third set as his serve was broken twice by Cilic, who was cheered to victory by his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, a former Wimbledon champion.
Meanwhile, home hopes took an early beating with British No. 3 Kyle Edmund going down 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
The 21-year-old, ranked 68th in the world, gave the Court Two crowd in the sunshine only a few moments to really cheer on as his touch and accuracy faltered against the left-handed world No. 55.
Edmund is one of six British men in action on the tournament’s opening day, with 2013 champion and second seed Andy Murray getting under way today against another Briton, Liam Broady.
British wild-card James Ward had the honor of opening the Centre Court action — but with defending champion and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on the other side of the net, it was too big an ask to reach the second round.
However, Ward proved more resilient than expected after losing the first set 6-0. He battled back in the second set, only to lose in a tiebreaker. A continued fightback eventually saw him lose the third set 6-4 to the first-seeded Serbian.
Earlier in the day, Russian 29th seed Daria Kasatkina was the first winner when she defeated Victoria Duval of the US 6-0, 7-5.
Duval, the world No. 572, skipped Wimbledon last year as she was recovering from cancer surgery.
Venus Williams took a large, languid stride into the second round of Wimbledon.
The oldest woman in the main singles draw, five-time champion Williams was at times sublime as she beat Croatian Donna Vekic 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 on a sunny Court One.
While the full Williams armory had been on display, it was her mental strength which stood out — perhaps no surprise given she is playing her 71st Grand Slam singles tournament, a record among current female players.
Vekic produced startling groundstrokes at times, but eighth seed Williams maintained her composure, increasing the pressure when things got tight as her opponent wilted in the spotlight.
Former Wimbledon women’s runner-up Sabine Lisicki advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Shelby Rogers.
Lisicki, the German who lost to Marion Bartoli in the 2013 final, took exactly one hour to beat the 62nd-ranked US player. Lisicki has fallen to No. 81 in the rankings, but has a game suited to grass.
Rogers has failed to get past the first round at Wimbledon in four appearances.
Additional reporting by AP, AFP and staff writer
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