Serena wins, Stephens and Svitolina upset in first round at Wimbledon

[July 03, 2018]  Serena Williams got off to a strong start in her Wimbledon opener while two top-five seeds were sent packing in Monday's action at the All England Club in London.

Williams, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, defeated Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 29 minutes. She is seeded 25th despite her world No. 181 ranking after being away from the tour due to her pregnancy.

The opening day wasn't very pleasant for fourth-seeded American Sloane Stephens or fifth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. Donna Vekic of Croatia rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stephens while Germany's Tatjana Marie stunned Svitolina 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1.

Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark also was in action, and she cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over American Varvara Lepchenko.

But most eyes were focused on Serena Williams, who will next face Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in the second round. Tomova swept Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

Williams, 36, had to work in Monday's first set, winning the deciding game when Rus sent a forehand long on her second break point of the 12th game. Williams had to work even harder in the second.

After Williams fought back from 30-40 in the first game, Rus, ranked 105th in the world, broke Williams in the third game. She then held serve to take a 3-1 lead. But the American won the final five games to seal the match, finally clinching it on her sixth match point.

"I wasn't quite used to that level of wind," Williams said after a match in which she committed 28 unforced errors. "Looking back, I'm glad I had that wind as in the future I will be able to play a bit better.

"I'm happy to get through that, I didn't play my best but I will get there."

Williams' sister, ninth-seeded Venus, also advanced. She rallied from a set down to beat Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-1.

Other top-10 seeds to advance to the second round included No. 7 Czech Karolina Pliskova, who outlasted unseeded wild card Harriet Dart of England 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-1, and No. 10 American Madison Keys, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia.

Meanwhile, Vekic's upset of Stephens marked the first time she had beaten a top-5 player. She had lost her previous five attempts.

Serena Williams of the U.S. in action during the first round match against Netherlands' Arantxa Rus REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

"I finally got through a match like that," Vekic said afterward. "It's really important for me and my confidence. The last couple of times I played against top players I was playing good -- it was a good match -- but I would still lose. (My team) were always saying it's gonna come, it's gonna come -- and I'm happy it was today."

Stephens struggled to find her rhythm while committing 26 unforced errors, against just 11 winners.

"It's unfortunate," Stephens said. "She played well. It was not too much you can do. I'm not going to go cry, bang my racquet. No. Look, what happened, what did you learn, let's work on it. It happened. Can't dwell on it. Can't take it back."

Svitolina suffered through an even more error-prone effort in her loss to Maria as she recorded a stunning 44 unforced errors.

Maria, who turns 31 next month, stood out as darkness arrived, rolling through the final set to end the two-hour, nine-minute tussle.

It is the fourth time Maria has reached the second round at Wimbledon.

Also falling Monday was 16th-seeded American CoCo Vandeweghe, who watched Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova outlast her for a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 8-6 triumph.

In other upsets, Romania's Sorana Cirstea defeated 19th-seeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 7-5, 6-3; Italy's Camila Giorgi beat 21st-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, and Germany's Andrea Petkovic knocked off No. 31 Shuai Zhang of China 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Among the other seeded players to advance were No. 13 German Julia Goerges -- a 6-4, 7-6 (7) winner over Puerto Rico's Monica Puig -- and No. 32 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Radwanska beat Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

--Field Level Media

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