Wimbledon 2010 Gets Underway

Defending champion and six time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer almost lost his first round match to unseeded Alejandro Falla, and this match set the tone for the day. With quite a few matches going into five sets, and quite a number of seeds losing in the first round itself, the 2010 edition of Wimbledon has gotten off to a very interesting start indeed. The ladies half was slightly better, with only a couple of seeds losing in the first round. While the first day at The Championships started off bright and sunny; perfect weather for the most prestigious of tennis Grand Slams, the same cannot be said for most of the players, and indeed, some of the seeds are on their way back, while those who progressed to the next round didn't look at all convincing in their first round match ups. The lone exception was 5th seeded American Andy Roddick, who managed to beat Rajeev Ram, also of USA, in 3 straight sets, in just under 90 minutes. Let's take a look at how the other Wimbledon 2010 seeds fared on the opening day of Wimbledon 2010.

Men's Results (Seeded Players)

In the men's half of the draw, all eyes were on Roger Federer, the number 1 seed and defending champion. Federer has six Wimbledon titles under his belt and is looking for his 7th title here at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. However, judging by his first round performance, he will have to play much much better if he wants to win the title here. In his first round encounter, Federer played the unseeded Alejandro Falla, and much to the consternation of Federer and his millions of fans, the Swiss ace started badly. He lost the first set with a break in his 6th service game, giving Falla the first set at 7-5. Falla, sensing a great upset in the making, put the pressure on Federer and upped his game in the 2nd set, and eventually took the second set 6-4. Thus Federer was, for the first time in 6 years at Grand Slams, 2 sets behind in his opening match. In the 3rd set as well, Falla did not relent a bit, and much of the set went on serve. With the score at 5-4, and Falla serving, Federer finally broke the Falla serve and took the 3rd set, ensuring that the defending champion was back in the game, though down 2 sets to 1. For all those who thought that this was the turnaround that they were waiting for, they were in for a rude shock. Falla broke the Federer serve in the very first game of the 4th set, and then held to quickly race to a 2-0 lead. The rest of the 4th set then progressed on serve, and everyone thought Federer's Wimbledon campaign was done with. With the score at 5-4 in the 4th, and Falla serving for the match, it seemed like the Swiss was going to set another record, with this becoming his first loss in 6 years in the first round of a Grand Slam. However, like the champion he is, Federer didn't give up, and fought his way back, breaking the Falla serve and leveling the set at 5 games all. Both payers then held to take the set into a tie-break, where Federer simply crushed Falla taking the tiebreak 7-1, and leveling the match at 2 sets all. The 4th set tie break seemed to awaken something in Federer, or maybe it extinguished something in Falla, for in the 5th and deciding set, Falla was simply routed. Amazing shots from the Federer backhand and forehand, along with some perfect drop shots saw Federer take the 5th set 6-0 and move into the 2nd round.

Though Federer came out the winner, he was the first to admit he was lucky and didn't deserve the win. And Falla's lack of experience showed in the 3rd set when the score was 4-4, and he was up 40-0 on the Federer serve, but could not take advantage of the situation. Had he broken the Federer serve, things might have turned out differently, and he could have handed Federer a straight set loss in round one of a Grand Slam, something that not many are able to do, and indeed something that no one has done in 6 years. However, as things stand, Federer is through to the 2nd round, and Alejandro Falla is out of the Wimbledon 2010.

Other Results
In other results, the 3rd seed Novak Djokovic needed 5 sets to overcome a stiff challenge from Oliver Rochus, and in spite of the Serbian's poor record of 5 sets, he managed to win this one and move into the second round. 7th seed Nikolay Davydenko, who has just returned to the tour after injury, also needed 5 sets to dispatch South African Kevin Anderson, with the 5th set going in his favor 9-7. Lleyton Hewitt, after his incredible performance on grass at Halle, was stretched to 4 sets before overcoming Argentinian Maximo Gonzalez. Gael Monfils of France also advanced to the next round with a straight set victory over Leonardo Mayer, as did Thomas Berdych over Andrey Gobulev. In the last of the seeds to win on Day One, 8th seed Feliciano Lopez defeated Jesse Levine of USA in 4 sets and made it to the next round of Wimbledon 2010.

Upsets
In the upsets on day 1, 30th seed Tommy Robredo lost to unseeded Aussie Peter Luczak in four sets, while 17th seed Croat Ivan Ljubicic lost in straight sets to Pole Michal Przysiezny. The number 11 seed Marin Cilic too lost in straight sets to German Florian Mayer along with Stanislas Wawrinka, the 20th seed, who lost to Denis Istomin in a hard fought 5 setter, making it a bad day for the seeds on day one at Wimbledon 2010.

Women's Results (Seeded Players)

The women's half of the draw was relatively quieter, with no fanfare in any of the matches. This is probably because the number 1 seed and defending champion Serena Williams plays tomorrow, on what is traditionally known as Ladies Tuesday at Wimbledon. Venus Williams was the highest seed to be playing in the women's section, and she easily defeated her unseeded opponent Rossana De Los Rios in straight sets. With the form Venus Williams, and of course Serena Williams, are in, it seems difficult to imagine any other player winning the Wimbledon 2010 title. However, stranger things have happened, and there is lots of competition waiting. Venus outclassed her opponent in just over an hour on Court 1, and moved confidently forward to the 2nd round. With just 15 unforced errors in 2 sets, compared to 31 winners, Venus Williams is looking formidable indeed.

Other Results
In other results, 4th seed Jelena Jankovic overcame Britian's Laura Robson in straight sets, though the second set went to a tiebreak. 8th seed Belgian Kim Clijsters simply breezed past Italian Maria Elena Camerin in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2, 12th seed Nadia Petrova got the better of Tatjana Malek, and 13th seed Shahar Peer defeated heartthrob Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, also in straight sets. 26th seed Alisa Kleybanova went past Sandra Zahlavova, 27th seed Maria Kirilenko went past Stefanie Voegele, albeit in 3 sets, and 30th seed Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Polona Hercog. 17th seed Belgian Justine Henin also had an easy encounter against Anastasija Sevastova defeating her in straight sets. On the other hand, 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer and 28th seed Alona Bondarenko needed 3 sets to defeat their opponents, but both managed to make the second round of Wimbledon 2010. 33rd seed Melanie Oudin and 21st seed Vera Zvonareva were the last of the seeds that made it to round 2 on the first day of Wimbledon 2010.

Upsets
In the upsets of Day 1, 5th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy, who recently won the 2010 French Open, could not keep her winning streak on grass and lost to unseeded Russian Vera Dushevina, making her the biggest upset of Wimbledon 2010 so far. The only other upset of the day was 34th seed Kateryna Bondarenko, who lost to unseeded Greta Arn in 3 sets.

So all in all a day of mixed emotions for the seeds, with quite a few of the men's seeds losing out, and many of the women's seeds winning and advancing to the next round of the Wimbledon 2010. With the results out of the way, let's see what the lineup for Day 2 of Wimbledon looks like.

Seeds Playing on Day 2

Though the excitement of the first day is behind us, day 2 promises to be action packed as well. With many seeds playing on day 2 as well, we hope that there are no upsets in store for us. Here is a list of seeds playing on Day 2 of Wimbledon 2010.

Men's Draw
2nd seed Rafael Nadal
4th seed Andy Murray
6th seed Robin Soderling
8th seed Fernando Verdasco
9th seed David Ferrer
10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
13th seed Mikhail Youzhny
14th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero
18th seed Sam Querrey
19th seed Nicolas Almagro
23rd seed John Isner
24th seed Marcos Baghdatis
25th seed Thomaz Bellucci
26th seed Gilles Simon
32nd seed Julien Benneteau
33rd seed Philipp Petzschner

Women's Draw
Top seed Serena Williams
3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki
6th seed Samantha Stosur
7th seed Agnieszka Radwanska
9th seed Na Li
10th seed Flavia Pennetta
14th seed Victoria Azarenka
16th seed Maria Sharapova
18th seed Aravane Rezai
19th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova
23rd seed Jie Zheng
24th seed Daniela Hantuchova
25th seed Lucie Safarova
29th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
31st seed Alexandra Dulgheru
32nd seed Sara Errani

With so many seeds taking to the courts on Day 2 of the Wimbledon 2010, it promises to be another rocker of a day. Center Court will get to see Rafael Nadal in action, the man who is leading the ATP ranking and who is looking to stop Federer from taking his 7th title here at Wimbledon. After his stellar performance at the French Open 2010, we will get to see if the Spaniard can keep his level of play on the faster grass surface, and pose a risk to the Federer juggernaut, which has been losing speed of late. Also playing will be Andy Murray, and though he has never won a Grand Slam yet, this year might prove to be different, and with his draw relatively easier than the rest, it will be interesting to see how he starts his Wimbledon campaign. In the women's half, Serena Williams is the star, and she will look to get to a better start than the men's defending champion did. All in all, a day of superb tennis action coming to you from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, don't miss a single moment of it. And as always, stay tuned for results and upcoming matches.