Wimbledon Day 1 results: Djokovic, Federer, Venus, Keys advance
A recap of the action on Day 1 on Monday at Wimbledon 2016, including results, tweets, hot shots, photos and more.
Results Roundup
• No. 1 seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic began his title defense at the All England Club with a straight-sets win over Britain’s James Ward on Monday. Keeping with Wimbledon tradition, Djokovic opened play on Centre Court and raced to a 6–0, 3–0 lead against No. 177th-ranked Ward. But the Londoner fought back, pushing Djokovic to save three break points for a 6-5 lead in the second set. Ward forced a second set tiebreak, but Djokovic ultimately prevailed, winning 6–0, 7–6(3), 6–4 to advance.
• No. 8-seed Venus Williams and No. 9-seed Madison Keys proved why they deserve to be in the Top 10 on Monday as both American women advanced to the second round. Five-time Wimbledon champ Venus was tested by 19-year-old Croatian Vekic, who held a break lead in both sets and served for the first. But Venus prevailed, earning her 77th career win at Wimbledon with a 7–6(3), 6–4 victory. She’ll next face qualifier Maria Sakkari, who beat Saisai Zheng 6–3, 6–2 on Monday.
• The casual tennis fan’s guide to Wimbledon 2016
A new addition to the Top 10, Keys came out firing against Germany’s Laura Siegemund to win 6–3, 6–1 in 63 minutes. She plays Kirsten Flipkens next after the Belgian defeated American Nicole Gibbs 6–3, 6–1.
• No. 223-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova pulled off the biggest upset of the day, knocking out No. 23-seed Ana Ivanovic in straight sets in the opening round. After she was the last to enter the main draw, beating British 19-year-old Harriet Dart in final round of qualifying, Russia’s Alexandrova blanked Ivanovic 6–2, 7–5. By the ranking numbers, this was a clear upset. (In fact, it was Ivanovic’s worst loss in terms of ranking, beating out a 2008 U.S. Open defeat to No. 188th-ranked Julie Coin.) But looking at Ivanovic’s recent results at the Slams, the loss comes with little shock or surprise. The former World No. 1 has not made it past the third round at a Grand Slam since the 2015 French Open and she hasn’t won a WTA title since Auckland in 2014. Alexandrova will play Anna-Lena Friedsam next, after the German beat Zarina Diyas 6-4, 6-0.
After the match, Ivanovic explained that she had been struggling with a wrist injury and even considered withdrawing from Wimbledon while playing in Mallorca last week.
“Since two weeks I struggle with my right wrist. It was very hard to accelerate on my forehand. I tried to do everything possible to be fit and recover and tape it and so on,” she said. “I think I'm going to take some time off. My next tournament would be Olympics. So hopefully that will give it enough time to settle down. Hope to do some MRI and see what's going on.”
• Wimbledon 2016 women's seed report, matches to watch
• It’s only Day 1 but fans have already found their fairytale story of the tournament darling. No. 772-ranked Marcus Willis—who still lives at home with his parents and almost quit tennis earlier in the year—advanced to the second round after beating Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
“I've been coaching at the Warwick Boat Club. I had options in Philadelphia. Nothing was dead set. But, yeah, it was an option I had. Don't know if I would have gone or not,” he said. “But, yeah, I met the girl. She told me not to, so I didn't. Do what I'm told (smiling).”
The Brit came through six rounds of qualifying to get a main draw appearance at the All England Club, and with his win on Monday, he earned a date in the second round against seven-time champion Roger Federer. The No. 3-seed, who missed the French Open due to injury, defeated Argentinean Guido Pella 7–6, 7–6, 6–3 to advance.
• With story of Marcus Willis, Wimbledon brings surprises on Day 1
• No. 2-seed and 2015 finalist Garbine Muguruza got through a tough test from Italian Camila Giorgi on Monday, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to advance to the second round.
“I think just in grass you have less time, less time for everything. You really got to concentrate your first shots, which are going to make the difference,” Muguruza said after the match. “It's not like in clay, you got more time. You can survive more. Here you, right away, are in danger if you don't go for it.”
• Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands took the court on opposite sides of the net on Monday, as the doubles partners faced off in the opening round of singles for the first time since 2010. After two hours and 48 minutes, Safarova was finally able to close out the win, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 75, after Mattek-Sands was unable to serve out the match in the second set.
• No. 5-seed Simona Halep defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-1 on Monday, despite not playing any lead-up tournaments and struggling with an Achilles injury.
“It was my first match on grass. Pretty difficult at the beginning….I played two, three days in Birmingham, and then I couldn't start the tournament. So I went home for treatment for four days, and then I came straight to London. I was practicing here,” Halep said after the match. “I have like five days already without pain, so I feel good. Hopefully will stay like this, because this Achilles is very strange. Sometimes it's hurting me; sometimes not. Just I hope to be okay.”
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In the second round, she’ll face Francesca Schiavone, who defeated Anastasija Sevastova 7-6(7), 6-4.
• 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki took care of business on Monday against American and 2016 French Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers, winning 6–1, 6–3 in one hour. In all four appearances at Wimbledon, Rogers has failed to get past the first round.
Lisicki, who lost to Marion Bartoli in the 2013 Wimbledon final, will play Sam Stosur in the next round after the Australian veteran beat Magda Linette 7–5, 6–3. Stosur leads their head-to-head 5-2, and 2-1 on grass, but Lisicki does have a win over Stosur at Wimbledon in 2013 and the German’s game is well-suited to the surface.
• Carina Witthoeft knocked out No. 25-seed Irina-Camelia Begu 6–1, 6–4 and Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat No. 21-seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 7–5, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 to mark the first seeds eliminated from the tournament on Day 1.
• Wimbledon 2016 men's seed report, matches to watch
• No. 9-seed Marin Cilic lead the way for some of the top men’s seeds, beating American Brian Baker 6–3, 7–5, 6–3 early on Day 1. Also advancing was No. 13-seed David Ferrer, who beat Dudi Sela 6–2, 6–1, 6–1 and No. 23-seed Ivo Karlovic, who took out 19-year-old Borna Coric 7–6 (8), 7–6 (7), 6–4. The two tiebreaks in the opening sets marked Karlovic’s 40th and 41st career tiebreaks at Wimbledon.
• Last year, Denis Kudla was the last American man remaining in the tournament when he made the fourth round. But this year the 23-year-old was stopped in the opening round by Damir Dzumhur, who beat him 7–6, 7–5, 2–6, 1–6, 6–3.
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On the women’s side, another young American had a better result. 21-year-old Samantha Crawford—who made headlines at the beginning of the year with a strong run to the Brisbane semifinals—beat Paula Kania 7–5, 6–3 to advance to the second round at a major for the first time in her career.
• American Sam Querrey won his first match after being down two sets to love after coming back to beat Lukas Rosol, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 12-10 on Monday. But No. 20-seed Kevin Anderson, who took Novak to five sets last year at Wimbledon, was unable to pull off a similar comeback, falling to Denis Istomin 4-6, 6-7 (13), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-3 after more than three and a half hours.
• No. 6-seed Milos Raonic is through to the second round with a straight sets win over Pablo Carreno Busta, 7–6, 6–2, 6–4. The Canadian is playing in his first Grand Slam since adding John McEnroe to his team.
“John is one of the more positive people, especially a contrast to the way he might have been on court,” Raonic said after his win on Monday. “That was the thing probably that's taken me aback the most. He's very persistent in enforcing the positive things you do well.”
No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori also advanced on Monday, beating big-serving Australian Sam Groth 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, while No. 17-seed Gael Monfils (sporting a new haircut) lost to fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-7(4), 6-0, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
• More results: Daria Kasatkina d. Victoria Duval 6-0, 7-5; Jana Cepelova d. Mariana Duque Marino 7-5, 7-5; Sergiy Stakhovsky d. Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Adrian Mannarino d. Kyle Edmund 6-2, 7-5, 6-4; Lara Arruabarrena d. Olga Govortsova 6-2, 1-6, 8-6; Kurumi Nara d. Madison Brengle 6-2, 6-7, 6-3; Lukas Lacko beat Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3; Grigor Dimitrov beat Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Kiki Bertens d. Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2; Jack Sock d. Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Varvara Lepchenko d. Teliana Pereira 5-7, 7-6, 6-2; Misaki Doi d. Louisa Chirico 6-1, 6-2; Steve Johnson d. Malek Jaziri 7-5, 7-6, 6-4; Gilles Simon d. Janko Tipsarevic 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3; Andreas Seppi beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-4, 6-0; David Goffin beat Alexander Ward 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Alize Cornet beat Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-0; Jelena Jankovic d. beat Stefanie Voegele 6-2, 6-2
Tweets of the Day
Quote of the Day
"I went in, ready for the day, saw the first patient and the suction wasn't working very well. So we tried to empty it, get it sorted. Because you do, you scurry get everything sorted when there's patients waiting. I found my boss and said, 'What do we do? Is there a portable suction? What can we do?' and he said 'No, we have to get an engineer in.' So secretly I was like, 'Yes!' But I said maybe I can see exams for the rest of the day....But they said just no, just cancel the rest of your day." — Marcus Willis' girlfriend, Jenny Bates, a dentist, on how she made it to see her boyfriend's match on Monday
You can listen to the full interview with Bates below.
The Day in Photos
Wimbledon 2016 Day 1
Sabine Lisicki
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Vicky Duval
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Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Novak Djokovic
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Marin Cilic
Julian Finney/Getty Images
James Ward
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David Ferrer
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Rebel Wilson and Pippa Middleton
Karwai Tang/WireImage
Sam Stosur
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Venus Williams
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Donna Vekic
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Borna Coric
Julian Finney/Getty Images
Donna Vekic
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Ana Ivanovic
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Novak Djokovic
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Grigor Dimitrov
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David Goffin
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Kurumi Nara
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Kei Nishikori
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Camila Giorgi
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Sam Groth
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Madison Keys
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Garbine Muguruza
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Marcus Willis
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Milos Raonic
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Kiki Bertens
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Marcus Willis
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Marcus Willis
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Marcus Willis
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Marcus Willis
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Carla Suarez Navarro
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Gael Monfils
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Angelique Kerber
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Laura Robson
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Simona Halep
Julian Finney/Getty Images
Jack Sock
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Jelena Jankovic
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Roger Federer
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Nicolas Mahut
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Daily Data Viz
Each day, SI and IBM will bring you data-driven infographics based on the top storylines and stats from Wimbledon. Click the image to view the graphic.
Wimbledon 2016 marks the first time in 11 years that three American women are ranked in the Top 10.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
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