Nadal and Wawrinka crash out as rest goes to plan.
Two-time Wimbledon champions Rafael Nadal - admist all of his current injury woes - was sent home from SW19 in shocking circumstances for the second year running as the unseeded Belgian, Steven Darcis played the game of his life to come through three sets to nill (7-6,7-6,6-4).
Nadal, losing in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, lost to Lukas Rosol a year ago in what started his injury nightmare and despite a phenominal achievement gaining his record 8th French title earlier in the month was unable to pick up any momemtum against the inspired world number 135. A mixture of grit, skill and luck aided his opening two tie-break winning sets but an early break in the third allowed a smile to interupt his determined manner.
2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt delighted his native 'barmy army' as he took care of 11th seed Stanislav Wawrinka in straight sets. Hewitt started with that fierce energy and motivation that has become so common with the popular Aussie, stunning Wawrinka and quickly raising a 4-0 lead. Stan was visibly startled, despite expecting an inevitably tough encounter he somewhat railed, only going down 6-4 in the end. The second set had a sort of make or break feel, break of serves each way proceeded a winning break of serve to take the second 7-5, to the familiar roar of the 32 year old and the popular chants of his fan club. Despite hesistating at 5-3 in the final, he saw it out and sank to his knees - an incredible feat, especially following that agonising toe surgery. With Nadal now gone on that side of the draw, who knows?
For the rest of the frontrunners their opening rounds were straightforward enough strolls, Roger Federer - back to defend his title and bid for a record 8th - was at his absolute imperious best to brush aside Victor Hanescu, who had been ranked as high as 26 in three consumate sets, the third a bagel. Look out for the casual smash in the opening set, remarkable. Home favourite Andy Murray also enjoyed his run out with Benjamin Becker of Germany in their second meeting in a couple of weeks. After a nervy first with a break or so to either side, Murray found his gears and swept Becker aside to set up a meeting with Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei - who knocked out fellow Brit Jamie Ward to spoil the party - on Wednesday.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was handed a relatively difficult draw with upcoming Belgian prospect David Goffin. The first set was even with very little between the hard hitters, only for the French 6th seed to see the tie break through. The second sets went by 6-4, 6-3 as Tsonga began hitting the corners in his traditionally powerfully style as he began what could become a very real opportunity for him to break his own major duck.
Elsewhere throughout the seeds, John Isner (Evgeny Donskoy, 6-1,7-6,7-6), Jerzy Janowicz (Britain and youngest male entry Kyle Edmund, 6-2,6-2,6-4), Fabio Fognini (Jurgen Melzer, 6-7,7-5,6-3,6-2) and Janko Tipsarevic (Victor Troiki, 6-3,6-4,7-6) all evaded any first round obstacles while Marin Cilic avoided an early upset with coming through a difficult encounter with Mario Baghdatis 6-3,6-4,6-4.
Sharapova and Wozniacki sail through as Kvitova and Azarenka escape scares
The unforgetable shrieks of Victoria Azarenka again resounded around SW19 as the two-time Australian Open champion bravely powered on through injury following a nasty looking fall to
eventually beat Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal 6-1,6-2. In an absolute barrage of impressive hitting in the first the Belarusian opened the second with a horrific slip on the fresh, watered and extremely light underfoot grass courts, falling into a splits position and causing real damage to her knee - requiring two time-out sessions with her trainer. Visibly shook by the incident - the screams contained serious decibels - she grimaced on and her 107 ranked opponent was frustrated at not making any real progress as the powerful presense of Azarenka was temporarily weakened. After a few games of playing through the injury, it became apparent she was both physically and mentally overcome of it as more of her dominant strokes saw her play far too much for Koehler to handle.
2011 winner Petra Kvitova lost a set to American Coco Vandeweghe on her route to round two. Having enjoyed a promising yet unfulfilling 2012 with a couple of semi-finals, the Czech won her sets 6-1 and 6-4 in the end doing well to erase a difficult second set defeat from her game.
In what was the biggest shock of the woman's opening day fifth seed Sara Errani was completely brushed aside by a 19 year old Puerto Rican by the name of Monica Puig. Currently ranked 65th in the world and no Wimbledon experience or knowhow to rely on she dominated her much more established opponent in little over an hour. Errani, with Grand slam final and semi-final under her belt, did not expect such a committed approach from the American residing teenager who fought for everything in her power to hault the Italian's usually precise game, eventually sailing through 6-3, 6-2.
Varvara Lepchenko of the USA, ranked 26th for the competition fell to unseeded Czech Eva Birnerova (6-2,4-6,6-4), Aegon International finalist last week Jamie Hampton fell at the first step this time around to young American pretender Sloan Stephens who appears to have much to offer in this tournament, following impressive fourth rounds and semi-finals at the Australian and French consecutively. While 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki took no time at all to smash through her first round meeting with Estrella Cabeza Candela of Spain 6-0,6-2.
Tomorrow we boast of Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro and two fascinating Brit entries from Laura Robson and Heather Watson - hoping they can handle the home pressure a bit better than the many that have fallen today!
We'll see you then!
