Wayward Osaka sent packing
Anderson makes quick work of dispatching Herbert
WORLD number two Naomi Osaka’s hopes of a third Grand Slam title were shredded on Centre Court as she was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round, losing 7-6(4) 6-2 to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva yesterday.
The Japanese, who had nervelessly battered her way to Grand Slam success at the US and Australian Opens, failed to find her range on the slick lawns of the All England Club, tumbling out amid a flurry of unforced errors.
Putintseva was far from an unknown quantity for Osaka, having recently knocked her out in Birmingham, and again proved a resolute obstacle for the Japanese, fighting back after an early break to take the first set on a tiebreak. She broke the Japanese second seed twice in a dominant second set, wrapping up victory in an hour and 36 minutes when her opponent sliced a backhand into the net.
Elsewhere, she hasn’t hit the Wimbledon lawns with the same swagger of recent years, but a more chilled Simona Halep still had plenty enough firepower to sweep past Aliaksandra Sasnovich into the second round 6-4 7-5.
Meanwhile, returning to the lush grasscourts of Wimbledon proved to be just the tonic Kevin Anderson needed yesterday as the 2018 runner-up buried memories of an injury-hit year by easing into the second round with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The South African, who had played only three tour-level events this year before arriving at Wimbledon due to an elbow injury, moved around a sun-kissed Court Three with ease to dispatch doubles specialist Herbert.
“I’m really, really pleased with the way I played today. I knew it was going to be a tough match. It’s been a very tough year. But I feel like the way my body felt today is very, very encouraging for me,” Anderson told reporters.
Novak Djokovic has always been a player willing to try anything and anyone to improve his game and he now hopes that the presence of Goran Ivanisevic in his coaching team will help keep him one step ahead of the chasing pack.
The 2001 champion was courtside yesterday when Djokovic began the defence of his Wimbledon title by impressively beating Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 7-5 6-3.
Having previously worked with Boris Becker and Andre Agassi, Ivanisevic is the third Wimbledon champion he has hooked up with.
“He’s someone I’ve always looked up, he was something of a hero of mine and we’ve been friends for a long time – though usually on the opposite side of the net,” Djokovic said of Ivanisevic, who Djokovic said he helped, as a wide-eyed teenage hopeful, to that 2001 triumph by delivering him snacks during his pre-tournament training camp.
“It didn’t take too much time for us to really feel comfortable one next to another.”
Young guns Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev suffered shock firstround defeats at Wimbledon as the sixth and seventh seeds were bundled out within an hour of each other.
Greek Tsitsipas entered the tournament tipped as the man most likely to challenge the authority of the big three, but was beaten 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3 by lowly-ranked Italian Thomas Fabbiano who produced an inspired display on Court Two.
He found himself in good company through the exit door though as Germany’s Zverev ran into Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely and was also sent packing 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5.