Will’ to survive
Serena outlasts qualifier for ‘W’
LONDON — This was not the Serena Williams the tennis world is used to seeing on Centre Court. It was still good enough for the defending Wimbledon champion to advance to the second round in straight sets.
Struggling on serve and failing to dominate against a 148th-ranked Swiss qualifier playing in her first Grand Slam tournament on Tuesday, Williams labored to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Amra Sadikovic — the 80th match win of her Wimbledon career.
What looked on paper like a complete mismatch turned into a tighter contest than expected.
“I never underestimate anyone,” said Williams. “It was a really good match but I don’t think it was tougher than I thought. It was definitely tough, but I always expect the best from everyone.”
With her mother, Oracene Price, watching from the Royal Box, the six-time Wimbledon champion jumped out to 3-0, running off 13 points in a row, defying her reputation as a slow starter.
“I started fast, that’s about it,” Williams said when asked what positives she took from her performance.
Since earning her sixth Wimbledon championship and 21st Grand Slam title a year ago, Williams has gone 18-3 at majors, with the losses coming in the U.S. Open semifinals, and the Australian and French Open finals.
It didn’t take long for the first rain of this year’s tournament, which cut short action in the early evening and limited play to the main stadium, the only venue with a roof at the All England Club. In all, 14 matches were suspended in progress and 16 were postponed.
Of the matches that did conclude, zero seeded players lost. Winners included No. 2 Andy Murray, the 2013 champion, in the first all-British men’s match at Wimbledon since 2001; No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, who eliminated 18-year-old American Taylor Fritz and now faces 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro; No. 7 Richard Gasquet, No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 15 Nick Kyrgios.
Among the top women, No. 6 Roberta Vinci — who stunned Williams at the U.S. Open last year, ending the American’s bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam — beat Alison Riske of the U.S. 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated unseeded Caroline Wozniacki, a former No. 1 who hasn’t won a match at a major in 2016; and No. 27 CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S. had little trouble getting past Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 7-6 (3).