World No.1 Angelique Kerber kicked off her bid to return to the Wimbledon final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Irina Falconi, while Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic prepared to start their All England Club campaigns.
With defending champion Serena Williams sidelined while she prepares to give birth to her first child, the race to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish is the most wide open in a generation.
Kerber, the 2016 Australian and US Open winner, is among the favourites after reaching last year’s final. The German has failed to maintain that form this season and her poor run culminated in an embarrassing French Open first round loss to Ekaterina Makarova last month.
But top seeded Kerber showed glimpses of her best form as she saw off American qualifier Falconi in 87 minutes on Centre Court. The 29-year-old faces World No. 88 Kirsten Flipkens for a place in the last 32. “All the memories came back. It was amazing what happened last year,” Kerber said.
“I’m happy to be back, but this year is completely different for me. I’m just happy I’m through the first round.”
As the United States celebrated Independence Day, American 24th seed Coco Vandeweghe, the grand-daughter of a former Miss America, beat Mona Barthel 7-5, 6-2.
Australian qualifier Arina Rodionova, ranked 166th, saved seven match points before defeating Russian 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 9-7. Kiki Bertens, the Dutch 23rd seed, was beaten 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 by Romanian world number 63 Sorana Cirstea.
Pliskova lives up to favourite tag
Karolina Pliskova underlined why she is the bookmakers’ favourite to win Wimbledon as the world number three crushed Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 6-4 in the first round on Tuesday.
With defending champion Serena Williams sidelined due to the impending birth of her first child, there is a power vacuum at the top of women’s tennis and Pliskova could be poised to fill it.
The 25-year-old Czech emerged as a potential star when she reached the US Open final last year and she has followed up on that breakthrough by making the French Open semi-finals last month.
Pliskova showed her grass-court prowess by winning the Wimbledon warm-up at Eastbourne last week and looked at home on Court One at the All England Club as she demolished Russian world number 80 Rodina in just 71 minutes. Hoping to reach the Wimbledon third round for the first time, Pliskova will face Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova in the last 64.
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