Wimbledon Day 2 wrap: Favourites up and running

They say that lightning doesn’t strike twice, but ‘they’ probably didn’t have tickets for Centre Court on day two of The Championships. The Wimbledon crowd were left bereft as first Martin Klizan (playing Djokovic) and then Alexandr Dolgopolov (Federer) retired from their first round matches on a busy second day of action.

The men: Federer, Djokovic benefit from retirements

Lightning might not strike twice, but Roger Federer certainly does – and then some. The Swiss maestro has now struck 85 times at The All England Club, breaking Jimmy Connors’ Open Era record for Wimbledon wins. The seven-time champion booked easy passage into the second round after Alexandr Dolgopolov was forced to retire from their match after just 43 minutes, with Federer leading 6-3 3-0.

“I feel for the crowd. They’re there to watch good tennis, proper tennis,” Federer lamented as the Centre Court crowd offered a collective groan for the second time on Tuesday.

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The first groan had come less than an hour earlier, when Martin Klizan retired from his match against Novak Djokovic. Djokovic noticed a problem with the Slovak as the pair walked out onto court. However, at 3-3 the world No.47 started hobbling. Djokovic promptly reeled off five straight games (taking the first set in the process), before the Slovak decided to call it a day.

“He had issues walking on to court,” Djokovic said post match. “I tried to focus on my game plan, I was serving well and when it mattered I made a break. But you could see he wasn’t moving.”

But it wasn’t all retirements on the men’s side of the draw. No.8 seed Dominic Thiem negotiated a potential banana skin in the shape of Vasek Pospisil, winning 6-4 6-4 6-3. Meanwhile 2016 finalist Milos Raonic made short work of Jan-Lennard Struff, coming through 7-6(5) 6-2 7-6(4).

Elsewhere, Juan Martin del Potro needed four sets to down Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 3-6 7-6(2) 6-4; former finalist Tomas Berdych was a 6-3 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 winner against Jeremy Chardy; Alexander Zverev downed Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 7-6(3) 6-3; and David Ferrer was a 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-2 winner over Richard Gasquet.

The women: Kerber, Pliskova up and running

Going into the women’s tournament, there were five candidates for world No.1 at the end of the fortnight. Two of the favourites, Angelique Kerber and Karolina Pliskova, started their campaigns in straightforward fashion on Day 2 of The Championships.

With Serena Williams absent, it was up to 2016 finalist Angelique Kerber to open proceedings on Centre Court. The German, who has been struggling for form in 2017, was pushed all the way by Irina Falconi during her 6-4 6-4 win.

“I think it was a good match – a good first match for me,” Kerber said following her win. “It was good playing again on Centre Court. A lot of memories came back when I walked on.”

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Pre-tournament favourite Karolina Pliskova eased into her campaign with a straight sets win over Evgeniya Rodina. The Czech star, who comes into Wimbledon on the back of victory at Eastbourne, was rarely troubled during a routine 6-1 6-4 victory over the Russian.

“I know it’s been for last few weeks this thing about being world No. 1 for few players,” Pliskova said after the match. “I just don’t want to be focusing on this.”

Elsewhere, Agnieszka Radwanska was a 7-6(3) 6-0 winner against Jelena Jankovic; Garbine Muguruza downed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2 6-4; Kristina Mladenovic was a 6-1 6-3 winner against Pauline Parmentier; and Caroline Wozniacki needed three sets to get the better of Timea Babos, winning 6-4 4-6 6-1.