Federer, Roddick, Serena Win Wet Wimbledon Openers

Posted on June 26, 2007

Federer, Roddick Win Wimbledon Openers

World No. 1 Roger Federer and former No. 1 Andy Roddick began their Wimbledon title quests with wins Monday leading to a potential semifinal showdown, finishing amidst showers that suspended or cancelled the majority of matches.

Federer handled Russian grasscourt neophyte Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, while Roddick had a tougher time with fellow American Justin Gimelstob 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(3).

Federer took the court in a white dress blazer and matching pants, but the real thing the media and fans was looking for was rustiness after the Swiss skipped the grasscourt warm-up events for the first time since achieving the No. 1 ranking.


"I'll have to win the tournament to prove it was the right decision," Federer said of skipping the ATP Halle event he had won four years in a row. "My body was hurting after the French...I'm recovered now. It takes about four, five or six days to get everything out of your system, all the little things that hurt a little bit."

Gimelstob, who fought valiantly against Roddick, diving about the court like Boris Becker in his prime, said he was competing in his last match at Wimbledon.

"I think I did a good job hanging in and make him keep holding serve, and he did it, and that's why he's one of the best servers in the world," Gimelstob said of Roddick. I did a good job hanging in that game and holding serve. So I'm proud of that...I couldn't help but think a little bit towards the end of the match that this most likely is my last time I'll ever be on the court playing singles here, and it's just -- that part is tough."

Roddick served 16 aces and went unbroken on serve with a first serve percentage of 74.

"You give me the option to have that number for the tournament," Roddick said, "and I would take it right now. If you're taking care of your own serve, it puts more pressure on the other guy."

Other seeded winners Monday were (5) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Ginepri in four), (13) Tommy Haas (d. Fleishman), and (17) David Ferrer (d. Roitman).

Frenchman Florent Serra cut the only upset of the day on the lawns, straight-setting No. 27 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Winners in all-unseeded contests were Alejandro Falla (d. Querrey), Tomas Zib (d. Hartfield in five), Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Stepanek), Michael Berrer (d. Montanes), Janko Tipsarevic (d. Peya in five), and Danai Udomchoke (d. Berlocq).

In the match of the day with the crowd roaring, homecountry hope Tim Henman was tied with No. 25 seed Carlos Moya 5-5 in the fifth set when the match was postponed.

Highlights Tuesday on the men's side at Wimbledon are (25) Carlos Moya vs. Tim Henman (to finish), Mardy Fish vs. (2) Rafael Nadal, "You Say" Potito Starace vs. (4) Novak Djokovic, (9) James Blake vs. Igor Andreev, (16) Lleyton Hewitt vs. Richard Bloomfield, Vince "Rappin'" Spadea vs. (15) Ivan Ljubicic, Latvia's own Ernests Gulbis vs. (10) Marcos Baghdatis, (7) Tomas Berdych vs. Nicolas Massu, (6) Nikolay Davydenko vs. Evgeny Korolev in an all-Russian, (12) Richard Gasquet vs. Bohdan Ulihrach, former runner-up (23) David Nalbandian vs. Mischa Zverev, Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, Gael "Force" Monfils vs. former Aussie Open winner Thomas Johansson, Brit hope Alex Bogdanovic vs. Aussie Chris "Penthouse" Guccione, Michael "Iron Mike" Russell vs. (18) Jarkko Nieminen, Rik De voest vs. former No. 1 (26) Marat Safin, and the upset-watch of the day in Robert Kendrick vs. (11) Tommy Robredo.

Hingis Recovers on Wet Wimbledon Monday

No upsets on the women's side Monday at Wimbledon as 14 matches were completed, but 18 went unfinished or unstarted as wet weather is forecasted to dominate week one at the All England Club.

Seeded winners Monday were (1) Justine Henin (d. (Q) Cravero, bagel in the second), (7) Serena Williams (d. Dominguez Lino, bagel in the second), (9) Martina Hingis (d. (WC) Cavaday, bagel in the third), (15) Patty Schnyder (d. Pin 8-6 in the third), (16) Shahar Peer (d. Tanasugarn), (18) Marion Bartoli (d. Pennetta), (20) Sybille Bammer (d. Lepchenko), and (25) Lucie Safarova (d. Ondraskova).

Hingis, nursing a sore hip, saved two match points in beating the Brit wildcard Cavaday.

"I have to build on that, knowing that I can't have fear going out there, which you have as you get older," Hingis said. "I don't see myself right now after today's match as a contender. I'm happy to be able to run and walk and play tennis again. I wasn't able to do that five weeks ago."

Schnyder recovered from a 1-5 deficit in the third set to win 8-6.

"I shouldn't be down 5-1," Schnyder said. "But yeah, that's what happened. I don't know, the only thing I thought was now you just go and just think of it being clay, and yeah, play at forehand and go to the position you like, more further in the back, and that's how I think I could rally better. Yeah, somehow I won. But she also helped me. I mean, she couldn't finish it off. But somehow I know it's not easy sometimes."

The younger Williams sister said she has been bothered by a tight hamstring.

"It's doing OK. It's getting better, slowly but surely," Williams said. "I'm hoping and praying it will get better in time."

Unseeded winners advancing into the second round were Italian Roberta Vinci (d. Harkleroad), Estonia's Kaia Kanepi (d. Malek), Japan's Aiko Nakamura (d. Sucha), Aussie Alicia Molik (d. Rodionova), American Laura Granville (d. Wozniak), and Russian Vera Dushevina (d. Bacsinszky).

Matches suspended due to darkness were (31) Michaella Krajicek tied with Tzipora Obziler 6-2, 6-7(6); Gisela Dulko tied with Eleni Daniilidou 7-5, 3-6; Greta Arn leading (Q) Olga Govortsova 7-6(5); and Brit wildcard Katie O'Brien leading Sandra Kloesel 5-3.

Matches of interest scheduled for Tuesday include Jamea Jackson vs. (4) Amelie Mauresmo, Yung-Jan Chan vs. (2) Maria Sharapova, (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Julia Vakulenko, (3) Jelena Jankovic vs. Anne Keothavong, Alla Kudryavtseva vs. (23) Venus Williams, Indian princess Sania Mirza vs. Yaroslava Shvedova, (10) Daniela Hantuchova vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Nathalie Dechy vs. (12) Elena Dementieva, (6) Ana Ivanovic vs. Melinda "The Fifth Element" Czink, and American Vania King vs. (11) Nadia Petrova.
  
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
After a rainy start to Wimbledon Monday which included over 4 hours of rain delays, the weather is expected to clear somewhat on Tuesday. All told, 39 matches from Monday have been rescheduled for Tuesday...The last player to win Wimbledon without playing a grass tune-up event was Andre Agassi in 1991, the same year the first day of play was last wiped-out completely...What was up with the staggered match suspensions at the end of the day's play Monday? Henman-Moya finally suspended play over an hour after Tursunov-Almagro stopped due to darkness. Without a roof overhead Centre Court play could go on further, but an hour extra more than outer courts?...Justin Gimelstob has likely played his last Wimbledon after losing to Andy Roddick Monday. Gimelstob left everything on the court, diving about 700 times during the loss...Playing in her first match in two months, 1997 champ Martina Hingis saved two match points and won the last nine games over Brit Naomi Cavaday...Tim Henman has already blown four match points vs. Carlos Moya. Think he slept well Monday night knowing that?...How weird does Centre Court look without a roof? Looks like Cincinatti...Roger Federer holds the all-time best win-loss percentage in Grand Slam finals (10 or more finals). At 49 wins in a row, Federer is also currently riding the all-time longest winning streak on grass, ahead of Bjorn Borg's second-best 41 in a row. Rafael Nadal will try to become the first player to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year since Borg in 1980...Dutchman Peter "Nuclear" Wessels rose from 488 to No. 221 after his runner-up effort at the Ordina Open, losing to Ivan Ljubicic...In their ongoing plan to reduce doubles to a sideshow yet appease doubles players, the ATP has launched another doubles marketing campaign, "Doubles Rules." Look for a Kevin Ullyett poster in a store near you...Andre Agassi's buddy Perry Rogers has been re-elected to the ATP Board as player representative for the Americas region for a second three-year term, beating out an enraged Justin Gimelstob who thought he had the position locked up. Former ATP Communications Director David Higdon, now the Champ Car racing executive vice president of strategic development and communications, threw his hat in the player-voted contest and reportedly received zero votes...The WTA Tour announced that Beijing has been awarded one of the tour's 9-day super events under their 2009 revised calendar. It is one of the tour's four "crown jewel" events "that will anchor the streamlined 2009 Calendar under the Tour's Roadmap plan," according to the WTA. The tournament will be held at the Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing, the official site of the 2008 Olympic Games tennis event. According to the WTA, "Under terms of the partnership, Beijing and the Tour, working with the city of Shanghai and the ATP, will explore the possibility of combining the Beijing tournament with the ATP's Masters Series event in Shanghai, creating a combined women's/men's event that would rotate annually between Beijing and Shanghai. The other three crown jewel mandatory events under the Tour's Roadmap plans will be the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells and an event to be staged in the city of Madrid."...American men went 1-for-4 Monday at Wimbledon, winning one when two Americans faced each other, Andy Roddick vs. Justin Gimelstob...Serena Williams is now 31-0 in first-round matches at Grand Slams...From the blogging Justin Gimelstob: "I want to publicly apologize to Andre Agassi's agent, Perry Rogers, and some other members of the ATP after I abruptly and inappropriately accused them of foul play that contributed to my board of directors election loss last weekend. I'm by no means going to hide behind the customary "I was misquoted or misrepresented" bogus lines that often accompany these types of apologies. I made comments out of emotion and disappointment, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Rogers on being re-elected to the ATP board. I believe the game is in good hands with him helping to navigate its future."...More from Gimelstob on his "conversation" with Perry Rogers, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "It wasn't a conversation. It was more him yelling at me. It did not end in a harmonious way. I was more than fine to agree to disagree. But he didn't see it that way. He's a great businessman, but, basically, I think it's better to see your enemies from the front. I'm not saying I didn't do certain things right. I thought I had the votes and coasted on that. I could have been a little more prepared, while he was very smart and calculating. He had people on the inside, completely manipulating and politicking for him."...James Blake reportedly has a new book out next month.