Amelie Mauresmo performed her duties as defending champion with
a minimum of fuss at Wimbledon on Tuesday, opening Center Court
proceedings on the traditional "Ladies' Day" with an assured defeat
of American Jamea Jackson.
The 27-year-old French fourth seed swept to a 6-1 6-3 victory
with a few flashes of the flamboyant strokeplay that lifted her to
victory over Justine Henin in last year's final.
Her place in the spotlight was quickly seized by Tim Henman as
the golden boy of British tennis for more than a decade rolled back
the years with an epic final-set shootout victory over Spanish 25th
seed Carlos Moya.
The All England Club grounds were still buzzing long after the
32-year-old completed a remarkable 6-3 1-6 5-7 6-2 13-11 victory to
become the last British male standing.
The match had resumed at 5-5 in the decider after bad light had
left it hanging in the balance overnight.
While Henman and Moya provided an old-fashioned serve and volley
duel, Moya's close friend Nadal followed them with a brutal show of
power to beat American Mardy Fish 6-3 7-6 6-3.
Fresh from his hat-trick of titles at Roland Garros, topspin
king Nadal proved again that he can adapt his awesome baseline
skills to Wimbledon's slick lawns.
All he wants now, he said, is some Spanish sunshine.
"It's better for the Spaniards, the Latins, the sun makes it a
bit slower, the ball gets a bit more topspin," he said. "But grass
don't change, it's always grass."
Mauresmo can only dream about the kind of domination Nadal
enjoys at her home slam in Paris but at least she appears to have
found her natural habitat in south west London.
With a game not unlike Henman's classical grasscourt cut and
thrust she was too good for the 20-year-old Jackson, the daughter
of an NFL cornerback.
Extra tension
"I feel that I'm enjoying it," she told reporters of walking out
as a champion. "There's maybe a little extra tension before you
walk on the court.
"It was very, very different, quite bizarre," she added of the
returning to the world's most famous court that has been shorn of
its roof this year. "It's lost a bit of its intimacy."
Second and third seeds Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic also
moved through. Jankovic crushed British wildcard Anne Keothavong
6-2 6-0 while Sharapova was made to work harder before beating
Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan 6-1 7-5.
For the second day running a former champion diced with danger
on Court Two. Unlike Martina Hingis on Monday three-times winner
Venus Williams did not have to save any match points but was still
given a scare by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva before winning 2-6 6-3
7-5.
Slovak 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova dished out a harsh lesson to
15-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, beating the junior
world champion 6-0 6-1.
In yesterday's matches, third seed Andy Roddick thundered into
the third round of Wimbledon with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 defeat of
Thailand's Danai Udomchoke.
The American powerhouse needed just one break of serve in each
of the opening two sets with the 114th-ranked Udomchoke struggling
to make much impression on CenterCourt.
In women's draw, Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova, twice a grand
slam semifinalist, moved smoothly into the second round with a
workmanlike 7-6 6-2 victory over Italy's Karin Knapp.
Vaidisova's all-court game and powerful serve were enough to
wear down the determined Italian, who is ranked 55 places below the
world No 10.
Swiss ninth seed Martina Hingis and Russia's 11th seed Elena
Dementieva also advanced to the third round.
(China Daily via Agencies June 28, 2007)