Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun advanced to the second round of the men’s singles tournament at the Wimbledon Championships after defeating Tommy Robredo of Spain in straight sets on Tuesday.
The world No. 57 Lu dominated the match against Robredo, who ranks 31st, sending him packing 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 in 97 minutes.
It marked the first time the Taiwanese star has beaten the Spaniard in their three encounters since 2006.
Photo: AFP
The victory sets up a second-round matchup against 12th seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
The 27-year-old, who stunned former world No. 1 Andy Roddick at Wimbledon last year, was satisfied with his performance.
“I am happy to win the opening match,” said Lu, adding that Robredo was a strong opponent and that it was not an easy game.
Photo: Reuters
However, he took advantage of the grass and the fact that his opponent was making his debut after recovering from an injury.
On the topic of his career-best quarter-final appearance at the All England Club last year, Lu admitted it would not be easy to advance that far again. He also said he felt some pressure because people had higher expectations of him.
However, he said he would try not to let pressure affect his performance and he would do his best.
Photo: Reuters
“This is just the first game. I hope I can do better next round to improve my game,” he said.
He looked forward to a hard match against the Serb, saying he thinks he has a chance of winning.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova and Li Na made short work of their opponents on Tuesday and the John Isner against Nicolas Mahut re-match inevitably failed to live up to last year’s epic.
Photo: Reuters
Andy Roddick, another American who has become a favorite son in this leafy suburb of London courtesy of his three final defeats by Federer, also progressed to the second round by beating German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-4 7-6 6-3 on Court One.
His nemesis Federer battled the wind and the awkward serve of Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin to prevail 7-6 6-4 6-2 on Centre Court, his usual slew of breathtaking shots helping the fans forget the bracing chill.
“The first match at Wimbledon is never easy. I struggled to get enough returns in during the first set,” the Swiss third seed said, who saw champion Rafael Nadal progress on Monday. “It was tricky conditions, a lot of wind. It was really strange how the wind came in.”
Serbian second seed Djokovic, whose 43-match winning run was ended by Federer in the French Open semi-finals, began his quest for a first Wimbledon title with a quickfire 6-4 6-1 6-1 demolition of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, crushed Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 6-1 6-4 6-3 and reliable Spaniard David Ferrer beat Benoit Paire 6-4 6-4 6-4, but fifth seed Robin Soderling and former winner Lleyton Hewitt labored through.
As a stream of fans from across the world made plans to leave the South London venue late in the day, French hope Jo-Wilfried Tsonga livened them up with a typically energetic display to defeat Go Soeda of Japan in straight sets.
Isner met Mahut in a sequel to last year’s freakish 11-hour battle of survival, but this time the American shrugged off the Frenchman 7-6 6-2 7-6 in just over two hours to leave the day’s focus squarely on Serena.
Top seed Wozniacki had no trouble in disposing of Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 6-1, French Open champion Li Na powered past Alla Kudryavtseva and her Chinese compatriot Peng Shuai also went through.
Fifth seed Sharapova stormed past Russian compatriot Anna Chakvetadze 6-2 6-1 and the two surprise women’s semi-finalists from last year eased into round two.
Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova beat America’s Alexa Glatch 6-2 6-2 and Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova followed with a 6-2 6-1 win over Italian Camila Giorgi.
Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic crashed out to Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Australia’s No. 10 seed Samantha Stosur became the highest seeded casualty in either draw after losing to Hungarian Melinda Czink.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon’s Centre Court roof was set to close again on day three of the championhips as rain showers delayed the start of play yesterday.
Players scheduled for matches starting at 11am were confined to the locker room with light rain falling at the All England Club.
However, organizers said the opening match on Centre Court featuring five-time women’s singles champion Venus Williams would start on time at noon with the roof closed.
The American, whose flappy zip-up playsuit caused a stir on Monday, played 40-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm.
Later on Centre Court, men’s defending champion Rafael Nadal was to take on American Ryan Sweeting and a third American, Andy Roddick, was to complete the program on the 15,000-seater arena against Victor Hanescu.
British hope Andy Murray was second on Court One against Germany’s Tobias Kamke, although fans without tickets hoping to watch the fourth seed on the giant screen on Henman Hill could be disappointed.
When he played under the roof on Monday organizers switched off the screen because of health and safety fears.
Organizers said drier spells were expected later yesterday.
As of press time, Date-Krumm was trailing Williams 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 3-4.
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