For the first time at Wimbledon 2008, play begins under cloudy skies yet, nonetheless, another superb day's tennis awaits at SW19 All British eyes turn to Elena Baltacha, who warms up on the Aorangi practice courts for her second-round tie with China's Jie Zheng Another capacity crowd graces the All England club with some of the supporters following Roger Federer's lead with their choice of outfit Zheng puts Baltacha on the back foot immediately, taking the first four games before wrapping up the opening set Baltacha overcomes a disappointing start but is broken when serving for the second set and Zheng storms through to win 6-2 7-5 The attention turns to Centre Court and first up is third seed Novak Djokovic, who faces Marat Safin - a self-confessed grass-court hater Newly-crowned world number one Ana Ivanovic opens up proceedings on number one court against world number 97 Nathalie Dechy Safin, who has never been past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, stuns Djokovic by breaking at 3-3 and going on to take the first set Djokovic's fellow Serb Ivanovic also loses the first set as Dechy takes the tie-break 7-2 and suggests a huge upset may be on the cards Rarely if ever has Safin looked so comfortable and focused on grass and Djokovic fails to hide his frustration as he loses the second set Moments from seeing her Wimbledon dream destroyed, Ivanovic saves two match points and then takes the second set on a tie-break Safin soaks up the Centre Court applause after taking the third set to complete a shock 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 triumph over Djokovic Distraught Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero has to retire with a leg complaint when trailing 6-4 6-4 2-1 to Germany's Mischa Zverev Victorious and flushed with relief, Ivanovic gratefully kisses the net as her distraught opponent Dechy buries her head in her towel As Centre Court bathes in the late afternoon sun, world number one Roger Federer quickly hits his stride against Sweden's Robin Soderling Number four seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia screams with delight after crushing Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2 6-3 Bidding for a record sixth Wimbledon title, Federer extends his head-to-head record against Soderling to 6-0 with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3) win
|
Bookmark with:
What are these?