Upset Alert
Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep both continued to product disappointing results in 2015 as both lost in the first round yesterday to opponents ranked outside of the top 100. Bouchard fell in straight sets to 117th ranked Duan Ying-Ying while Halep went down in three sets to 106th ranked Jana Cepelova. Caroline Garcia was the only other women's seed to fall yesterday. She was beaten by hometown favorite Heather Watson. On the men's side, American hope Jack Sock looked uninspired during a four set loss to Sam Groth.
The Nightmare Continues
Genie Bouchard's season continued to crumble yesterday at Wimbledon in her aforementioned loss to 117th ranked Duan Ying-Ying. Bouchard is the first finalist to lose in the opening round since Steffi Graf lost to Lori McNeil in 1994. When the next WTA rankings are released, Bouchard's ranking will drop down into the 20s. The chair umpire even rubbed a little inadvertent salt in Bouchard's wounds by giving her a dress code violation when her black bra strap became visible during the match.
Almost Perfect
Defending champion Petra Kvitova lost just one point on her serve during her 35-minute 6-1, 6-0 win over Kiki Bertens. And that point she lost? It was on her sole double fault. Kvitova hit nine winners and just three unforced errors. Germany's Angelique Kerber also came close to perfection with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Carina Witthoeft. Kerber hammered 21 winners and just 5 unforced errors in her 45-minute win.
The British… Invasion
Great Britain's James Ward was the beneficiary of David Ferrer's withdrawal as he got to face lucky loser Luca Vanni. Ward came through with a four set win and became the fourth British man into the second round, joining Andy Murray, Aljaz Bedene, and Liam Broady. The last time there were at least four British men in the second round at Wimbledon was way back in 2006 when five Brits made it through. The men are joined by Heather Watson on the women's side.
Speaking of Andy Murray…
Andy Murray played his 100th career grass court match yesterday, beating Mikhail Kukushkin. Murray has 84 wins on grass, putting him in third place amongst active players behind Roger Federer (137 wins) and Lleyton Hewitt (128 wins).
Williams Out of Doubles
Serena and Venus Williams withdrew from the women's' doubles tournament yesterday, stating only that Serena wished to focus on singles, even though she enjoys playing doubles with her sister. The have teamed up to win 13 Grand Slam doubles titles, but haven't played a doubles match yet this season. Serena is bidding to win her fourth Slam singles title in a row, and is still in contention to be the first player since 1988 to win a calendar-year Grand Slam.
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