Seeds Bake Bagels in Early Womens Matches at Wimbledon
Posted on June 29, 2006LONDON, UK -- It was a busy day at the All-England Club on Wednesday, as the top half of the ladies' singles draw contested the first round and the bottom half played the second round. In the end it was a great day overall for the seeds.
Kicking off the day on Centre Court, Court 1 and 2, respectively, were three of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's marquee names, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo, who all cruised through first round matches. Read more about Williams here.
Sharapova, the No.4 seed this fortnight, kicked off her campaign with a 62 60 victory over Anna Smashnova. Sharapova has been one of this event's breakout stars the last few years, making a run to the second week as a 16-year-old in 2003 and then winning her first major here in 2004. The Russian teen reached the semifinals last year before falling to eventual champion Williams, and this year looks to make another solid run late into the fortnight.
"I do this because I love it, I love to compete, to go out there," Sharapova stated. "The only reason I'm here is to hold the plate at the end of the two weeks. I'm not here to show someone I'm better than others or prove a point. That has nothing to do with expectations or what people think. If that controls you, you should be out of the business."
Mauresmo, the top seed and current world No.1, had an even easier time in her first match, steamrolling Croatian qualifier Ivana Abramovic, 60 60, in 39 minutes. It was Mauresmo's third career double bagel victory on the Tour. She next faces Samantha Stosur, against whom she notched her second career double bagel earlier in the season at Miami.
"It's one of the great matches that I've played here," Mauresmo said on her Wednesday win. "It's maybe tough to judge a little bit after just one match how I feel and how my game is, although I was very satisfied about the way I played today. Not letting any point down or whatever. And also not to spend too much time on the court is another satisfaction for me."
Other seeded players on the top half of the draw winning their openers included No.7 seed Elena Dementieva, No.9 seed Anastasia Myskina, No.14 seed Dinara Safina and No.16 seed Flavia Pennetta. No.11 seed Francesca Schiavone became the biggest upset victim of the tournament so far, falling 36 63 64 to British wild card Melanie South.
Having contested their first round matches on Tuesday, the players on the bottom half of the draw began the second round Wednesday. Among the winners were Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Martina Hingis.
Clijsters, seeded No.2, advanced when her opponent, Ukrainian teen Viktoriya Kutuzova, was forced to withdraw prior to the match due to an acute viral infection; Henin-Hardenne, the No.3 seed this fortnight, cruised past Russia's Ekaterina Bychkova, 61 62; and Hingis, the No.12 seed, crushed Tathiana Garbin by an identical score, 61 62. Other seeds reaching the third round were No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.10 seed Nicole Vaidisova.
A handful of second round matches were postponed due to darkness, including those involving No.8 seed Patty Schnyder and No.15 seed Daniela Hantuchova.
-- WTA
Kicking off the day on Centre Court, Court 1 and 2, respectively, were three of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's marquee names, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo, who all cruised through first round matches. Read more about Williams here.
Sharapova, the No.4 seed this fortnight, kicked off her campaign with a 62 60 victory over Anna Smashnova. Sharapova has been one of this event's breakout stars the last few years, making a run to the second week as a 16-year-old in 2003 and then winning her first major here in 2004. The Russian teen reached the semifinals last year before falling to eventual champion Williams, and this year looks to make another solid run late into the fortnight.
"I do this because I love it, I love to compete, to go out there," Sharapova stated. "The only reason I'm here is to hold the plate at the end of the two weeks. I'm not here to show someone I'm better than others or prove a point. That has nothing to do with expectations or what people think. If that controls you, you should be out of the business."
Mauresmo, the top seed and current world No.1, had an even easier time in her first match, steamrolling Croatian qualifier Ivana Abramovic, 60 60, in 39 minutes. It was Mauresmo's third career double bagel victory on the Tour. She next faces Samantha Stosur, against whom she notched her second career double bagel earlier in the season at Miami.
"It's one of the great matches that I've played here," Mauresmo said on her Wednesday win. "It's maybe tough to judge a little bit after just one match how I feel and how my game is, although I was very satisfied about the way I played today. Not letting any point down or whatever. And also not to spend too much time on the court is another satisfaction for me."
Other seeded players on the top half of the draw winning their openers included No.7 seed Elena Dementieva, No.9 seed Anastasia Myskina, No.14 seed Dinara Safina and No.16 seed Flavia Pennetta. No.11 seed Francesca Schiavone became the biggest upset victim of the tournament so far, falling 36 63 64 to British wild card Melanie South.
Having contested their first round matches on Tuesday, the players on the bottom half of the draw began the second round Wednesday. Among the winners were Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Martina Hingis.
Clijsters, seeded No.2, advanced when her opponent, Ukrainian teen Viktoriya Kutuzova, was forced to withdraw prior to the match due to an acute viral infection; Henin-Hardenne, the No.3 seed this fortnight, cruised past Russia's Ekaterina Bychkova, 61 62; and Hingis, the No.12 seed, crushed Tathiana Garbin by an identical score, 61 62. Other seeds reaching the third round were No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.10 seed Nicole Vaidisova.
A handful of second round matches were postponed due to darkness, including those involving No.8 seed Patty Schnyder and No.15 seed Daniela Hantuchova.
-- WTA