After toiling at Eastbourne last week where he won the title, three-time champion Novak Djokovic would have loved to have an easy passage into the second round of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. And he got one on Tuesday as his opponent - the 47th ranked Martin Klizan - retired midway through the second set, trailing 3-6, 0-2 (0-30) to the second seed.
The Slovak, who doesn’t have an impressive resume on grass but has posed a threat to the big names nonetheless, came into the match with his left leg heavily strapped. The signs were ominous right from the start, and they proved portentuous for Klizan in the end.
Despite this, he did stay toe-to-toe with the 12-time Major champion till 3-3 in the first set. It was a tight seventh game where he finally broke down as the Serb upped the intensity on his returns and Klizan’s shots started finding the tramlines more than the court.
Djokovic did not need a lot of time after that to wrap up the opener.
A trainer was called on court for the Slovak but by then, Klizan’s body language told the story.
He managed to win just two more points since then before calling it quits.
Djokovic next takes on the 136th ranked Czech Adam Pavlasek for a place in the third round.
Kerber victorious
12 months ago, Angelique Kerber was the player to beat all season. She won two of the four annual Slams and had a runner-up finish right here at Wimbledon.
In a sharp contrast to that, the German does arrive as the top seed and World No. 1 this time but with absolutely nothing that can do justice to her ranking.
Being the hunted has not worked out well for the German whose feisty game has been a pale shadow of itself for most of 2017.
She, however, did manage to get a straight-sets victory in her first round in spite of some late resistance from the experienced Irina Falconi. From 3-0 up, the southpaw did let her opponent come back but was able to stave her challenge just in time.
Not a very promising start for the German by any means, still the 6-4, 6-4 win will go miles to boost her shaky confidence.
And whether this win has actually done her a world of good will be evident when she faces the very tricky Kirsten Flipkens - a former Wimbledon semi-finalist.
Del Potro wins battle of comeback men
It is always heart-warming to see players defeat career-threating injuries to return to the sport that they so love. Both the 29th seeded Juan Martin del Potro and Thanasi Kokkinakis had had their share of misfortunes as they faced each other for a spot in the second round.
For the towering Argentine - a former US Open champion - multiple wrist surgeries had robbed him much of the precious time when he should have dominated the tennis courts with his ferocious forehand. For Kokkinakis - one of the talented emerging stars - his swift rise to the top was curbed by a frustrating period of eighteen months where he had to undergo a shoulder surgery and fall victim to an abdominal injury.
Now back on the court, the 21-year-old gave a testament of his skills when he ousted the 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic at the Queen’s Club just two weeks back.
His showdown with Del Potro was always supposed to be a battle of desire and courage. And both showed ample amounts of them as they locked themselves in an engrossing contest that lasted for 3 hours and 3 minutes on Court 2.
The senior statesman thundered 17 aces whereas the junior hammered 16. While Del Potro secured three service breaks, Kokkinakis had two. It was the winners department where the Australian outshone the Argentine with 58 to 47. But his brilliant work was also undone by his 35 unforced errors. Del Potro, in contrast, kept it to a paltry 25.
Perhaps the tough workout was needed early on for the 2013 semi-finalist for he could very well be crossing swords with the three-time champion Djokovic two rounds later. And every tennis aficionado remembers their last meeting on the hallowed lawns of SW19 which turned out to be an absolute humdinger of a match.
But first up for the World No. 32 is the mercurial Ernests Gulbis. It goes without saying that it would not be a cakewalk, with Gulbis taking a thumping win over Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
Federer also wins through retirement
Federer...retirement – two words tennis fans don’t want to hear in one sentence. Like his rival Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer too progressed to Round 2 courtesy an injury retirement by his rival, Ukrainian player Alexandr Dolgopolov. 28-year-old Dolgopolov was not considered a big threat to the Swiss, who has seven titles here, but nevertheless was expected to put up a good fight against Federer.
However, Dolgopolov was struggling with movement towards the end of his match, and eventually, with Federer up 6-3, and 3-0 in the second – in a scoreline identical to the Djokovic-Klizan match, the Ukrainian player retired with injury.
The Swiss will play either Dusan Lajovic of Serbia or Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in Round 2.
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