Serena, Roddick keep American flag flying
LONDON: Muttering and mumbling throughout, Serena Williams looked a tortured soul at Wimbledon on Wednesday before finally reaching the third round.
After rating her first-round performance "two out of 10", Williams is unlikely to be satisfied with her ragged display on Wednesday when she came back from a break down in each set before beating Australian Alicia Molik 7-6 6-3.
At least Williams already has two Wimbledon trophies to her name. Fellow American Andy Roddick is still looking for his first.
Serena Williams of the US plays a return to Australia's Alicia Molik during their singles match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London on Wednesday. Reuters |
Third seed Roddick, twice a finalist, has had six failed bids and he moved a step closer to his dream with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 defeat of Thailand's Danai Udomchoke.
"It was an up and down match," the 24-year-old told reporters. "Mentally I was a bit up and down today but I got through it."
Danai's defeat completed a bad day for the Asian players. Ninth seed Martina Hingis survived two match points in her previous match but avoided any such drama in a 6-1 6-2 thrashing of Japan's Aiko Nakamura.
French Open champion Justine Henin enjoyed a swift 60-minute workout to overcome Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-0 6-4 in the second round.
The Belgian's last two victims at Roland Garros, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, are fast becoming used to the spotlight after they were feted by thousands when they went home to Serbia following their Paris exploits.
On Wednesday, however, sixth seed Ivanovic had to make do with a more modest crowd on court 18 and surged past Melinda Czink 6-0 7-6 in another delayed first-round encounter.
Jankovic was even more ruthless in a 6-1 6-1 demolition of Slovakian Jarmila Gajdosova.
Federer speeds through
Meanwhile, Roger Federer needed just 10 minutes to finish his rain-interrupted second round match yesterday against Juan Martin del Potro, winning 6-2 7-5 6-1.
The Swiss, aiming for a fifth successive Wimbledon crown, sped through the first set, breaking the 18-year-old Argentine in the sixth and eighth games.
The second set went with serve until the 12th game when Federer earned himself three set points, converting the second when Del Potro messed up a forehand.
The world No 1 broke early in the third to lead 2-0 before rain stopped play on Wednesday. Resuming the next day, Federer wasted little time before claiming his 50th successive win on grass.
Federer will face former world No 1 Marat Safin of Russia in the third round.
Safin ended Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi's adventure with an authoritative 6-4 6-2 7-6 victory.
15th seed Ivan Liubicic of Croatia, Germany's Tommy Haas and US James Blake, the 9th seed also advanced.
Spanish Tommy Robredo, seeded 11, however created the biggest upset, suffering a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 loss to Wayne Arthurs of Australia.
Another Spaniard David Ferrer, seeded 17 and 24th seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela also became the casulties of the day, losing to unfancied French men Paul-Henri Mathieu and Edouard Roger-Vasselin respectively.
On the women' side, Daniela Hantuchova came through a tricky test against Russian Elena Likhovtseva , winning 7-5 7-6 to take her place in the third round.
The 24-year-old Slovak, playing in her seventh consecutive Wimbledon, has enjoyed one of her best years on the Tour, capturing her second title at Indian Wells.
Serbian sixth seed and French Open finalist Ivanovic continued her hot run, beating American Meilen Tu 6-4 6-3.
Other seeded women's players making it into the third round include 12th seed Elena Dementieva of Russia, 15th seed Swiss Patty Schnyder, 19th seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Venus Williams of USA, seeded 23.
Agencies
(China Daily 06/29/2007 page23)
