Venus Williams, Clijsters Advance in Opening Yawners at Wimbledon
No real surprises on the women’s side during the opening day at Wimbledon, where favorites No. 2 Venus Williams and No. 8 Kim Clijsters easily moved into the second round.
The elder Williams sister defeated Paraguay’s Rossana de los Rios 6-3, 6-2, and Clijsters rolling past Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-3.
“Tina Turner? I love her,” said Williams on the inspiration for her outfit. “I love Tina Turner. Obviously, she’s just an amazing, amazing artist, just a survivor. She reinvented herself. Plus she looks great. I’ve loved her forever. So the dress is really inspired by her.”
Other seeds of note advancing were No. 4 seed and former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic beating Brit wildcard Laura Robson 6-3, 7-6(5); No. 13 Shahar Peer dismissing former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4; No. 15 Yanina Wickmayer surviving American wildcard Alison Riske in three sets; No. 17 Justine Henin beating Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in straights; and No. 33 Melanie Oudin steamrolling German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-0.
“I mean, just got here yesterday, flying from Brussels yesterday morning,” Henin said of stepping on the Wimbledon lawns again. “But at the first minute, it was very good feeling, yeah, to be back. I think I see things differently at the moment. I probably enjoy it much more. No, it’s been only good things since I’m arrived. I’m happy about today’s match. Good to be back on the court also.”
The two minor upsets on the day were Russian Vera Dushevina topping No. 5 seed and French Open winner Francesca Schiavone in three sets, and Hungarian qualifier Greta Arn defeating No. 34 seed Kateryna Bondarenko in three.
“Was tough match. Was different surface, different feeling,” Schiavone said. “But she played very good and I didn’t take my chance maybe in the second set. It’s much more easy when you don’t serve so good and when you don’t catch your chance, particularly on the grass.”
In unseeded match-ups of interest German Angelique Kerber topped Indian Sania Mirza, Aussie Alicia Molik beat Zuzana Kucova in straights, Croat Karolina Sprem defeated American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Americans Varvara Lepchenko and qualifier Shenay Perry safely moved on.
Tuesday matches of interest on the women’s side include (1) Serena Williams vs. Michelle Larcher “The Screamer” De Brito, (3) Caroline Wozniacki vs. Tathiana Garbin, an all-Russian in Anastasia Pivovarova vs. (16) Maria Sharapova, Dominika Cibulkova vs. (25) Lucie Safarova, Magdalena Rybarikova vs. (the injured?) (18) Aravane Rezai, (31) Alexandra Dulgheru vs. the ageless Kimiko Date Krumm, and Mirjana Lucic vs. (14) Victoria Azarenka.
Also Check Out:
Williams Sisters Look to Close Wide-Open Wimbledon Draw
Hot Wozniacki Nears First Slam Title; Venus v. Clijsters Today at US Open
Serena Tops Sister Venus Williams for Wimbledon Crown
Safina Chokes Again as Williams Sisters Advance to Wimbledon Final
Henin, Clijsters in Same Quarter; Williams Sisters Semifinal Looming?