LONDON, July 4, 2018
For the first time since 1998, three Top 10 seeds fell in the first round of the men’s singles at Wimbledon after No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov, No. 7 seed Dominic Thiem and No. 10 seed David Goffin all lost their opening matches. Dimitrov’s conqueror, Stan Wawrinka, returned to court on Wednesday, as the top half of the draw was in action.
The match on Court 3 between the Swiss and Thomas Fabbiano of Italy was suspended in the third set due to bad weather with Wawrinka trailing 6-7(7), 3-6, 6-5.
Federer eases past Lacko
Wawrinka’s compatriot and No. 1 seed Roger Federer eased through to the second round after defeating Dusan Lajovic in straight sets, and recorded a similarly comfortable 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 victory against Lukas Lacko in the second match on Centre Court.
How many times have we seen this before?@rogerfederer seals his third round spot at #Wimbledon with a textbook forehand pic.twitter.com/Y6SglG1qJN
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) 4. Juli 2018
“I played very well. I felt good out there and had less nerves than in the first round,” said Federer.
“I am happy how I am hitting the ball, good concentration on my service games and I’m able to mix it up with some slices and coming over on returns,” the 36-year-old Swiss told BBC Sport.
“You can control service games more than return games, but most important is to have fun as well.
“Of course, you have to play the percentages, but if you do that too much it becomes boring – so I like to mix it up. That worked out well for me today.”
Next up for Federer will be Jan-Lennard Struff, who advanced to the third round for the first time. The 28-year-old German came back from two sets down stand his ground against 61 aces from Ivo Karlovic. Struff wins 6-7(7), 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 13-11 after three hours and 54 minutes.
Novak knocks out Pouille
Elsewhere, Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak upset No. 17 seed Lucas Pouille, who is ranked more than 150 places higher than his Austrian opponent, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(10), 3-6, 6-2. The encounter lasted just under three hours of play. The World No. 171, sitting on a career high, will next take on Milos Raonic. The 27-year-old Canadian fought past Australia’s John Millman 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4).
No. 11 seeded US-American Sam Querrey, last year’s semi-finalists, has eased past Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3, while Adrian Mannarino, runner-up at last week’s Antalya Open, has cruised past Ryan Harrison 7-5 ,7-5, 7-6(4).
Wozniacki crashes out
Reigning Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki became the biggest name to exit the Wimbledon women’s singles as she was beaten in the second round.
The No. 2 seed from Denmark was beaten 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 by Russian World No. 35 Ekaterina Makarova.
*Another* big upset at #Wimbledon as Caroline Wozniacki falls to @katemakarova1 😮 pic.twitter.com/RHbtRcB6R0
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) 4. Juli 2018
Makarova will now face another unseeded player in the third round, Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic, who took out No.32 seed and 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska
Williams sisters advance
In the bottom half of the women’s draw, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams rallied past Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 to reach the third round for the 18th time.
“It is just about winning the match, if you are at your best or not doesn’t matter as long as you win,” Venus stated.
The ninth seed will play Kiki Bertens next.
Venus’ sister Serena Williams defeated Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria 6-1, 6-4 in 66 minutes.
“I’m going in the right direction” Serena said. “In the other [first-round match] I didn’t move a lot. I’ve been moving a lot better.”
Serena will now face Kristina Mladenovic.
