Champion Serena Williams, playing just her third match in 11 months, struggled past Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the Wimbledon last 64 on Tuesday. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki also made it safely through to the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Arantxa Parra-Santonja.
The men's second seed Novak Djokovic crushed France's Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in the first round. Also advancing were third seed Roger Federer, a 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-2 winner over Mikhail Kukushkin, and three-time finalist Andy Roddick, who eased into the second round with a 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-3 over German qualifier Andreas Beck.
Djokovic was playing for the first time since his remarkable 43-match winning run was brought to an end by Roger Federer in the semifinals at Roland Garros.
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But the 24-year-old showed no signs of a Paris hangover and gave an imperious display on Centre Court
Serena, seeded seven after missing almost a year because of a foot injury and life-threatening illness following her fourth Wimbledon title, was inconsolable as she walked off court and during her TV interview.
“I usually don't cry, I don't understand it. It's been so hard, I never dreamt I'd be here,” said the 29-year-old, who had described her battle against blood clots on her lungs as like being on her death bed.
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Really big win
“I just wanted to win at least one match here and since I'm not playing doubles it was a really big win for me. It's been so hard and has been a disaster year. To be able to come back at Wimbledon is pretty awesome, I didn't expect to play or do anything. I'm just excited.”
Williams dropped the first two games of the match against Rezai before racing through the next six games to take the first set.
Rezai, whose ranking has slumped to 61 from a career high 15 last year, dug deep to break in the sixth game of the second set on her way to levelling the match.
But Williams shrugged off her stamina and timing problems to dominate the final set, claiming victory with her 13th ace.
She next takes on Romania's Simona Halep.
Tenth seed Samantha Stosur crashed out in the first round after a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Melinda Czink. Stosur became the highest seed to fall so far at the All England Club, where she has never got beyond the third round.
Another first round loss
World No.60 Sania Mirza's struggle at Wimbledon continued as she crashed out in the first round after losing 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 to Virginie Razzano of France, ranked 36 places below her in WTA charts, on Tuesday.
This was Sania's third exit in the first round in seven appearances at the Wimbledon while she had progressed upto the second round on four occasions. She had lost in the first round last year also.
The Indian fell short of playing her best tennis on the day, committing as many as 31 unforced errors as compared to her opponent's 15.
Superior skills
Roddick was never at his best against the gutsy Beck on Court One but the American eighth seed's superior grass-court skills eventually prevailed.
Finally feeling close to 100 per cent after a shoulder injury forced him to miss Roland Garros, Roddick reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen's two weeks ago.
But the 28-year-old suffered one of the most comprehensive defeats of his career in the semifinals as he won just four games against Andy Murray.
Roddick, beaten by Federer in all of his Wimbledon finals, had insisted that humbling loss wouldn't damage his confidence at the All England Club and he proved the point.
Beck, ranked 156th, has never been past the second round of any Grand Slam and, although his lusty hitting caught Roddick off-guard at times, the result was rarely in doubt.
Formidable serve
Roddick's formidable serve was working well enough and he sealed the first set with a break at 5-4.
The second set followed the same pattern, with Roddick doing all the pressing and Beck fighting to stave off three break points at 3-4.
That only delayed the inevitable as Roddick took the set when his blistering return of serve forced Beck to net a volley.
Roddick quickly moved a break ahead in the third set and it wasn't long before he was serving out a comfortable victory.
The Results
First round: Men : 2-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 6-4, 6-1, 6-1; bt 21-Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt Radek Stepanek (Cze) 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), 9-7; Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukr) 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4; Olivier Rochus (Bel) bt Kenny de Schepper (Fra) 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4; 24-Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) bt Flavio Cippola (Ita) 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; 28-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Julian Reister (Ger) 7-5, 6-2, 6-3; Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt 27-Marin Cilic (Cro) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 7-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Benoit Paire (Fra) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 18-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Juan Monaco (Arg) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; 19-Michael Llodra (Fra) bt James Ward (Fra) 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3; 20-Florian Mayer (Ger) bt Daniel Evans (Gbr) 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4; Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Mischa Zverev (Ger) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Victor Hanescu (Rou) bt Jaroslav Pospisil (Cze) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; Rik de Voest (Rsa) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Esp) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Karol Beck (Svk) bt Carlos Berlocq (Arg) 6-6, 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Andreas Seppi (Ita) bt Albert Montanes (Esp) 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt 29-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 7-5, 6-3, 7-5; Lukasz Kubot (Pol) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 6-4; 13-Victor Troicki (Srb) bt Massimo Gonzalez (Arg) 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(3), 6-3; Adrian Mannarino (Fra) bt Conor Niland (Irl) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-4; 32-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt James Blake (USA) 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-4; Robin Haase (Ned) bt Pere Riba (Esp) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) Tommy Robredo (Esp) 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.
15-Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3); Robin Haase (Ned) bt Pere Riba (Esp) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 25-Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt Marinko Matosevic (Aus) 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2; Tobias Kamke (Ger) bt Blaz Kavcic (Slo) 6-3, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-1; Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt Daniel Cox (GBR) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt 23-Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) 7-5, 3-1 (retd.); 26-Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) bt Andrey Golubev (Kaz) 6-3, 6-3 (retd.); 8-Andy Roddick (USA) bt Andreas Beck (Ger) 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-3; 3-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-2.
4-Andy Murray (GBR) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Esp) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.
Women : 4-Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) 6-4, 3-2 retired; 20-Shuai Peng (Chn) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 6-0, 6-4; 25-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Vitalia Diatchenko (Rus) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3; Elena Baltacha (Gbr) bt Mona Barthel (Ger) 6-2, 6-4; Melinda Czink (Hun) bt 10-Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-3, 6-4; 8-Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Alexa Glatch (USA) 6-2, 6-2;
Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3; Simona Halep (Rom) bt Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) 6-1, 6-2; 7-Serena Williams (USA) bt Aravane Rezai (Fra) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) 7-6(7), 6-4; Tamira Paszek (Aut) bt Ayumi Morita (Jpn) 5-7, 6-3, 6-0; Stephanie Dubois (Can) bt Irina Falconi (USA) 6-2, 6-2.
11-Andrea Petkovic (Ger) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; 14-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) bt Lesya Tsurenko (Ukr) 6-4, 7-6(3); Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Vesna Manasieva (Rus) 6-3, 6-4; Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Alize Cornet (Fra) 7-5, 6-2; Marina Erakovic (Nzl) bt Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) 6-4, 6-2.
8-Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Alexa Glatch (USA) 6-2, 6-2; Anne Keothavong (Gbr) bt Naomi Broady (Gbr) 6-2, 6-4; Rebecca Marino (Can) bt Patricia Mayr (Aut) 6-3, 7-6(5); 29-Roberta Vinci (Ita) bt Vera Dushevina (Rus) 7-5, 6-2; Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Esp) bt 15-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; 1-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) 6-2, 6-1.
32-Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) bt Camila Giorgi (Ita) 6-2, 6-1; Petra Martic (Cro) bt Vania King (USA) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.