Roger Federer was briefly tested in the opening match on Centre Court at Wimbledon yesterday, falling behind early before charging past Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
Federer failed to convert his first four break-point chances, then lost serve to trail 3-2, but he immediately broke back, broke again in the final game of the first set and dominated from there.
American James Blake became the first seeded casualty at Wimbledon when he lost 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 to Italy’s Andreas Seppi.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Blake, the beaten finalist in the grass court tune-up at Queen’s Club last week, looked all at sea against Seppi’s powerful strokes off both wings from the baseline and lost the first-round match in 44 minutes.
Seppi, who has never got past the third round in his previous four visits to Wimbledon, showed superior movement again in the second set and needed just 35 minutes more to double his lead.
Blake, seeded 17, stormed to a 5-0 lead in the third set tie-break, but Seppi rattled off seven straight points to book his place in round two where he will play Frenchman Marc Gicquel.
Meanwhile in the women’s singles, China’s Zheng Jie was back in the old routine at Wimbledon as last year’s semi-finalist battled to a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4) first round victory over Kristina Barrois.
Zheng, the 16th seed, was in action at the All-England Club for the first time since her remarkable run to the semi-finals last year and she displayed plenty of the grit and guile that catapulted her into the headlines.
India’s Sania Mirza also won her first round match yesterday, beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
World No. 85 Mirza beat Groenefeld, ranked 23 places above her, in 1 hour, 51 minutes on Court 14.
Mirza, who has never made it past the second round at Wimbledon, now faces No. 28 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who beat her compatriot Edina Gallovits 7-5, 6-1 on the adjacent Court 15.
Mirza lost in the first round at the French Open, but entered the All England Club having made it to the semi-finals at Birmingham, the pre-Wimbledon grass court warm-up event.
The 22-year-old won her two previous clashes with German No. 2 Groenefeld, but they had not played each other since 2005.
Groenefeld won the toss and elected to serve. The first game went to six deuces but Mirza eventually broke when her opponent hit long.
Mirza raced into a 4-0 lead before Groenefeld held serve and broke back to make it 4-2. However, Mirza broke again and served out the first set.
The first game of the second set also went to six deuces, but this time Groenefeld won the game and broke Mirza immediately afterwards.
Though Mirza broke back to make it 2-3, Groenefeld had the upper hand and won the set 6-2.
Mirza broke in the first game of the final set and went 4-1 up. The Indian held on to her service to win the set and secure a second round berth.
Russia’s Maria Sharapova gathered her poise after a poor start to claim a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Ukrainian qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova and a place in the second round.
Sharapova, ranked 60th in the world but given a special seeding of 24, slumped to a quick 4-1 deficit in the opening set, but saved a set point and bounced back to seal the opener.
Kutuzova, the world No. 79, pushed Sharapova hard in their first tour meeting, but the Russian prevailed on her first match point when the Ukrainian netted a forehand.
Sharapova, the 2004 winner, will face Argentina’s Gisela Dulko for a place in the third round.
British teenager Laura Robson had a promising start to her Wimbledon debut, but eventually faded against Daniela Hantuchova, losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The 15-year-old Robson was the youngest player in the main draw since Martina Hingis in 1995 and was given a wild card after winning the junior title last year.
Playing in front of a near-capacity crowd on Court 2, Robson showed few signs of jitters in the first set and used her big forehand to break her Slovak opponent twice.
However, she made several costly errors in the second set, including two double faults to give Hantuchova the decisive break.
Robson double faulted again to give Hantuchova a crucial break in the third.
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