Wimbledon Day 2 Women’s Recap
The shocking results in the men’s draw did not spill over to the women on Day 2 at Wimbledon. Seeded players, young and old held the day across the grounds at the All England Club. In all, 16 seeded players–ranging from teenager #18 Amanda Anisimova to 37-year-old #11 Serena Williams–played on Day 2. The seeded players advanced in 14 of the 16 matches. Only #26 Garbine Muguruza and #32 Lesia Tsurenko dropped their opening matches.
Who Looked Good
Elise Mertens, unseeded from Belgium made extremely quick work of France’s Fiona Ferro. Mertens won 6-2 6-0 in only 48 minutes of action. Mertens dominated beginning to end, winning a staggering fifty-five of eighty total points.
Ash Barty, #1 seed and recently ranked number 1 player in the world, topped China’s Saisai Zheng 6-4 6-2 in 78 minutes. Barty converted 4 of 7 break points to move past the #43 player in the world.
Qiang Wang of China used a very controlled game to dispatch Vera Lapko. The #15 Wang made only 5 unforced errors while benefiting from 35 unforced by her opponent. The steady Wang advanced to round 2 in just under an hour.
Who Struggled
Maria Sharapova once stood atop women’s tennis, today she retired before completing her first round match against Pauline Parmentier. After taking the first set 6-4, Sharapova dropped the second set in a tiebreaker. The lopsided third set ended in default after Sharapova fell behind 5-0.
Sam Stosur continued to struggle at the grass-court Grand Slam. Stosur advanced to Wimbledon’s third round only once in the last 5 years. Her streak extended today with a straight-set loss to Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 7-5.
Garbine Muguruza, the 2017 Wimbledon champ will not follow up her greatest triumph this year. The #30 seed hung in against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, but fell 6-4 6-4. Muguruza holds a ranking almost 100 slots higher than the 121st ranked Haddad, but matches are won on the court.
Match of the Day
The closest women’s match of the day took place outside of the spotlight. While megastar Serena Williams and new star Ash Barty took care of business in straight sets, former near star and current world #79 Eugenie Bouchard faced world #61 Tamara Zidansek on court 14. Zidansek took the first set 6-3 before Canadian Bouchard evened the match with a tight 7-5 win in the second. The final set needed to be extended to extra play with the score knotted at 6-6. The 21-year-old Zidansek outlasted Bouchard 8-6 to advance to the second round of Wimbledon for the first time.
