Injured Bouchard limps out tamely, too, on an easy Day 2 for the big names
It looked all too easy for the champions at the All-England Club. It was another story, though, for one of last year’s finalists and for one of the highest seeded women in the draw.
The big names imposed themselves on Day 2 as defending women’s champion Petra Kvitova and former men’s winners Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray all won their first-round matches at Wimbledon in straight sets.
Except for two major casualties in the women’s field. Romania’s Simona Halep, the third seed, went out to a shock 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 defeat by 106th-ranked Slovakian Jana Cepelova.
Halep followed Eugenie Bouchard, who was runner-up at Wimbledon last year, as the Canadian lost 7-6, 6-4 to Duan Ying-Ying – a 117th-ranked Chinese qualifier who was playing at Wimbledon for the first time and had never before won a match at a grand slam tournament.
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Halep made it to the semi-finals 12 months ago but came unstuck yesterday under a flurry of unforced errors, her tally of 34 including seven double faults.
The result completed a miserable month for 2014 French Open runner-up Halep who was knocked out in the second round at Roland Garros.
That defeat meant Halep will not have the luxury of experiencing the comforts of playing on Wimbledon’s centre court.
“You go on court, it’s like you go into a very nice hotel. It’s like they have carpet on the floor and the door is really nice. It’s wood and it’s really nice,” Halep said just three days ago.
“They have a message up on the door. That made me, like, stronger and more motivated to go on court and to feel good.”
Bouchard seemed to be the new star of women’s tennis last year, but the Canadian, 21, lost 10 of 11 matches in one stretch and also went out in the first round at the French Open.
Bouchard said she was still hampered by the abdominal injury that forced her to retire from last week’s grass-court tournament in Eastbourne. “I hadn’t practised that much,” Bouchard said.
“My timing was off. It’s not an excuse because I chose to play.”
In keeping with Wimbledon tradition, Kvitova had the honour of playing the first match on centre court on the second day as the reigning women’s champion.
The second-seeded Czech wasted no time in overpowering Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-0 in just 35 minutes.
Federer, the seven-time men’s champion, followed Kvitova on centre court and needed just 68 minutes to dispatch 88th-ranked Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
The second-seeded Federer, bidding to become the first man to win eight Wimbledon titles, broke five times and never faced a break point.
“I must say I’m very happy, always, to win like that,” he said.
Nadal, a two-time champion, coasted to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil on Court 1. He hopped in the air and pumped his fist after completing the victory.
“Here the feeling in Wimbledon is so special, and playing on grass, too,” Nadal said. “So always is very emotional when you hit some good shots in this beautiful club.”
Murray, the 2013 winner, faced a stiffer test against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.
But the third-seeded Briton rewarded his adoring home fans on centre court with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 win in a little over two hours.
Kukushkin was two points from evening the match, serving for the second set at 6-5, 30-love. But Murray won seven straight points to break serve and go up 3-0 in the tiebreaker. He finished with 14 aces and half as many errors (17) as his opponent.
Jack Sock, the 13th-seeded American, was knocked out by Sam Groth of Australia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
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