Djokovic races through to Round 2 : The Tribune India

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Djokovic races through to Round 2

LONDON:It was not quite the triple bagel that Novak Djokovic was aiming for during

Djokovic races through to Round 2

Novak Djokovic runs to reach a return against James Ward during their first round match. AFP



London, June 27 

It was not quite the triple bagel that Novak Djokovic was aiming for during 

the opening 41 minutes of his first-round match but the Serbian is unlikely to be too disappointed after he beat Britain’s James Ward 6-0 7-6(3) 6-4 at Wimbledon on Monday.

The holder of all four Grand Slam titles appeared to be hurtling towards his 29th successive win at a Major when he opened his Wimbledon defence by jumping out to a 6-0 3-0 lead.

But two rallying war cries from the Centre Court crowd, “Wake up Wardy, wake up” followed by “He’s only human James!” snapped the 177th-ranked wildcard out of his trance.

A ‘human’ Djokovic was forced to block out the noisy commotion moments later when Ward finally held serve to save his blushes.

Had the world No. 1 not kept track of the score, he might have thought Ward had just won the match as the Briton celebrated by holding both arms aloft as he lapped up the applause from all around the court.

Ward, who had not won a tour level match of any kind since making the third round here 12 months ago, then went on a roll to level the set at 3-3. He also had three chances to break his more illustrious opponent in the 11th game of the second set but it was not long before Djokovic snapped back into his ‘Super-human’ persona and ushered the son of a London black cab driver out of Wimbledon.

“I was really flawless, I felt great,” said the 29-year-old, who is bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold the first three legs of the calendar Grand Slam. 

Unsurprisingly, Ward’s memory of the day was somewhat different.

“It was an ugly start,” Ward said after slumping to his eighth successive tour-level defeat. “The more the games go on, you start panicking, especially against a guy who is making so many balls. Everything you hit is coming back,” he added.

“(But) I’m proud of myself the way I turned it around because it could have been ugly.” — Reuters

Lows and Highs 

Partly Cloudy 

Play began on the main showcourts on a partly cloudy day at Wimbledon with the temperature at 21°C.

LISICKI BEATS ROGERS

Sabine Lisicki, a finalist at Wimbledon in 2013, breezed past American Shelby Rogers 6-1 6-3.

BEGU BUNDLED OUT

Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu became the first seeded player to exit the tournament. The 25th seed lost 6-1 6-4 to Germany’s Carina Witthoeft.

STOSUR THROUGH

14th seed Samantha Stosur booked her place in the second round by beating Poland’s Magda Linette 7-5 6-3.

IVANOVIC CRASHES OUT

23rd seed Ana Ivanovic suffered a surprising first- round exit, losing to Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2 7-5. The Serb became the highest women's seed to perish on Day 1. “For two weeks I've struggled with my right wrist. It was very hard to accelerate on my forehand. It was a little bit sore. I feel like it caused me a lot of miss-hits,” Ivanovic said. 

DIMITROV IN ROUND 2

Grigor Dimitrov, the 2014 Wimbledon semifinalist, moved into the second round after beating American Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3 6-4 6-2.

RAONIC POWERS on

Sixth seed Milos Raonic, who is coached by John McEnroe, beat Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(4) 6-2 6-4.

NISHIKORI DOWNS GROTH

Fifth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan overcame Australian Sam Groth 6-4 6-3 7-5.

MUGURUZA beats Giorgi

French Open champ and second seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain beat Italian Camila Giorgi 6-2 5-7 6-4. 

VENUS OVERCOMES VEKIC

Eighth seed Venus Williams, the oldest player in the women’s singles draw, beat teenager Donna Vekic 7-6(3) 6-4.

KOHLSCHREIBER LOSES 

21st seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was bundled out of the first round by France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, losing 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-3.

FERRER WINS

13th seed David Ferrer crushed Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-2 6-1 6-1.

CILIC BEATS BAKER

Ninth seed Marin Cilic beat American Brian Baker 6-3 7-5 6-3 in just under two hours.

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