Olympic Tennis Day 1!

Written by: Staff on 29th July 2012

Olympic Tennis Day 1! |

Day 1 of Olympic Tennis is in the books and the grounds at Wimbledon were surely shocking to any curious tennis fans! Purple backdrops, Olympic rings adorning the nets, and players wearing colorful outfits on the historic grass courts. Let’s dive right into it shall we?

Roger Federer squandered match points in the second set of his match with Alejandro Falla but managed to win 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Tomas Berdych fell to Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 6-4. This is Berdych’s second first round exit in recent weeks as he dropped his first round opener at Wimbledon as well. The #1 American John Isner made it safely through to the second round, dispatching Olivier Rochus 7-6(1), 6-4. His compatriots Donald Young and Ryan Harrison were not so fortunate. Young lost to Seppi 6-4, 6-4 and Harrison fell to Santiago Giraldo 7-5 6-3. Other men’s singles winners today include Del Potro, Tipsarevic, Almagro, Simon, Verdasco, Benneteau, Petzschner, Dimitrov, Jaziri, Bogomolov Jr, Giraldo, and G. Muller.

Ladies singles saw numerous upsets. Li Na of China lost to Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Carla Suarez Navarro knocked out Sam Stosur 3-6, 7-5, 10-8. And Tsvetana Pironkova beat Dominika Cibulkova 7-6(4), 6-2. Serena Williams admitted to being taken aback by the noise level produced by Olympic fans but it didn’t deter her from taking out Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1. Caroline Wozniacki had to fight back against an inspired Anne Keothavong and eventually won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. British fans could rejoice as Elena Baltacha managed to win her opening round, 6-3 6-3 over Hungary’s Agnes Szavay.

Doubles action produced some fine matches as the #1 seeded Bryan brothers were tested early by Brazil’s team of Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa. Amid loud and talkative fans, the American pair managed to escape with victory 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3. Andy Roddick and partner John Isner would appear to be a good team on paper but their doubles skills were atrocious as they lost in straight sets to another team from Brazil, Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares. Both teams from Great Britain lost their openers, sending British hopes into tailspin. The team of Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming fell to Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-3. And Jamie Murray and Andy Murray squandered a set and a break lead to Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-5.

In Ladies Doubles, all top seeds in action today produced wins with relative ease. Sam Stosur is officially out of the 2012 London Olympics as she and her partner Casey Dellacqua were obliterated 6-1 6-1 by Spain’s team of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Another British team was knocked out as Laura Robson and Heather Watson lost to Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.