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World No. 1 Novak Djokovic overcame a tough opening-round opponent, two seeds were upset, former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt played his final match at the All England Club, and an English man actually won a match on an activity-filled opening day at Wimbledon.
ADHEREL
Djokovic defeated German Philipp Kohlschreiber, a former grasscourt title winner at Halle, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to move into the second round in his first match since losing in the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka.
“I thought it was great to be back in Wimbledon and to play on the untouched grass and open the Wimbledon 2015 campaign on Centre Court as the defending champion,” said Djokovic, who will next meet Jarkko Nieminen, who defeated Hewitt 11-9 in the fifth set in the Aussie’s last appearance at Wimbledon. “It is a special feeling, completely different from any other tournaments. The tradition and history is nurtured here, respected.”
Other Top 10-seeded winners on Monday were No. 4 Wawrinka topping Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-2, 7-5, 7-6(3); No. 5 Kei Nishikori struggling past Italian Simone Bolelli 6-3 in the fifth; No. 7 Milos Raonic defeating Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4); and No. 9 Marin Cilic straight-setting Japan’s Hiroki Moriya 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(4).
“I knew it was going to be a tough one because we played long five sets last year here,” Nishikori said of Bolelli. “I knew he’s good on grass. Mentally I was ready, but maybe there were many ups and downs. My serve, and maybe my concentration wasn’t there some moments…But I finished very strong in the end, so very happy to win today.”
The French Open champ Wawrinka did not face a break point against Sousa.
“When I was younger, up until age 19 maybe, I only played on clay, so from the baseline I needed to have time to prepared my shots,” Wawrinka said. “It took some time for me to feel comfortable on faster surfaces. On grass it’s important to be aggressive, play close to the baseline and pressure your opponent. I had the find the solutions over the years, and now I am able to play my best tennis on grass as well.”
On the upset tip Aussie John Millman toppled No. 19 Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, and American wildcard Denis Kudla came from two sets down to outlast No. 28 Pablo Cuevas 6-2 in the fifth.
Other seeded winners were No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 14 Kevin Anderson, No. 16 David Goffin, No. 17 John Isner, No. 21 Richard Gasquet, No. 24 Leonardo Mayer, No. 26 Nick Kyrgios, No. 27 Bernard Tomic who needed five sets to beat German Jan-Lennard Struff, and No. 32 Dominic Thiem.
While Hewitt failed to revive his past Wimbledon success, a number of other unseeded veterans found their way into the second round in Marcos Baghdatis, former world No. 2 Tommy Haas, and Spain’s Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco whose nerve outlasted Slovak Martin Klizan 13-11 in the fifth.
The 37-year-old Haas will next meet the No. 7-seeded Raonic.
“He’s been doing some great things really, so I think age is irrelevant,” Raonic of the German. “I’ve just got to face Tommy and try to play my best.”
Brit wildcard Liam Broady won his first career Grand Slam match, coming from two sets down to defeat Marinko Matosevic 6-3 in the fifth.
“To be honest, I’m not sure how much I believed I could win a round of Wimbledon before today, even going into the match,” said the 21-year-old bearded Broady, a Wimbledon juniors doubles champion and singles runner-up. “I’m hoping that it will sort of push me on and give me a bit more fire to want to get back here.”
Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal highlight play on Tuesday at the All England Club.
CENTRE COURT – 1:00PM
Petra Kvitova (CZE) [2] defeats Kiki Bertens (NED) 6-1 6-0
Damir Dzumhur (BIH) v Roger Federer (SUI) [2]
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) v Andy Murray (GBR) [3]
NO.1 COURT – 1:00PM
Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) v Rafael Nadal (ESP) [10]
Jana Cepelova (SVK) v Simona Halep (ROU) [3]
Tomas Berdych (CZE) [6] v Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
NO.2 COURT – 11:30AM
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [13] v Gilles Muller (LUX)
Nicolas Almagro (ESP) v Gilles Simon (FRA) [12]
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [8] v Sachia Vickery (USA)
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [5] v Saisai Zheng (CHN)
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