 |
| Mardy Fish. |
Fish in new health after heart Op comeback Mardy Fish made a winning return to tennis on Tuesday following his operation to treat a frightening heart condition, but immediately felt unwell after coming off court.The world number 12 beat Spain's Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 7-6 (7/1) in a first round clash and looked comfortable moving around the court.But afterwards, the US number two felt too ill to attend an obligatory press conference."He is feeling unwell," said an ATP tour spokesman, who added it should be "nothing worrying" and Fish had pledged to return on Wednesday, his day off, to speak to media.Fish had postponed his press conference for half an hour to see if he felt any better but, in the end, decided to cancel.Tuesday's match was his first tournament appearance since April, when, as the top seed, he fell at the first hurdle in Houston.He had a procedure called cardiac catheter ablation in Los Angeles on May 23 to correct faulty wiring in his heart.Fish said the arrhythmia had made it hard for him to sleep and his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.Fish is the top American left in the draw after world number 10 John Isner was knocked out on Monday.During his two-hour, 37-minute match on the Court 12 show court against Ramirez-Hidalgo, the world number 82, Fish sent down 24 aces and hit 61 winners.He was at ease in the third set tie-break, sealing his victory with a cross-court return of serve for his first win since Miami in March.Fish plays either British wildcard James Ward, or another Spaniard, world number 36 Pablo Andujar, in the second round.Spanish number 10 Ramirez-Hidalgo was the oldest player in the men's singles at 34 years and six months. He has never won a match on grass and has won just one tour-level match this year.Fish, by contrast, is a comfortable performer on the surface, has a grass court title to his name (Newport 2010) and only six other men competing here have won more singles matches on grass than him.Last year, Fish equalled his best Grand Slam result by reaching the quarter-finals, where he lost to Rafael Nadal.Meanwhile, his fellow American Brian Baker, 27, who lost six years of his career to an assortment of injuries, won his first-ever match at Wimbledon, beating Portugal's Rui Machado 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-0.His marathon ordeal saw him leave the tour completely and become a student and an assistant coach at a university in Nashville, Tennessee."I had two left hip surgeries, one right hip surgery, elbow reconstruction, and then a sports hernia surgery," said the world number 126."I still have one more year to complete my degree."But I never gave up the hope that I would be able to come back. I was always confident in my abilities that if I was ever able to stay healthy that I would have success," the qualifier said."I think it's cool, what I've been able to do, and it's been a lot of fun. I'm enjoying the moment."
 |
| Rafae Nadal. |
Rafael Nadal wins against Thomaz Bellucci, beating the Brazilian 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-3.It took Rafael Nadal time to find his feet on the Wimbledon grass but he eventually saw off the challenge of the free-hitting Thomaz Bellucci.The second-seeded Spaniard, fresh from a record seventh win at the French Open, is gunning for a third Wimbledon title in 2012 - one that would put him just four behind Roger Federer on 12 grand slams.This win set him on the way to that but, despite the 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-3, nature of it, the 26-year-old has had easier first-round tests, especially in light of the first-set going over he was given.Bellucci, ranked 80th in the world but with promise beyond that, took the game to Nadal with a positive approach that saw him break twice in succession to move 4-0 ahead.Underpinning that was a vicious forehand that Nadal could barely get a racquet on, although once the man from Majorca did find some rhythm with two breaks of his own the outcome was rarely in doubt.That was not the case for those supporting Nadal on Centre Court early on, though. As well as his forehand, Bellucci displayed a more-than-handy serve too, something that helped him save a first-game break point before, in the next game when break point down himself, Nadal played a poor drop shot which was picked off with ease.A routine hold followed before a memorable fourth game which, after looking like Nadal's when he had ball in hand at 40-30, ended as a double break after Bellucci unleashed three successive fizzing forehands.At 4-0 down and with an absent first serve, an opening-set whitewash looked possible for Nadal until he turned things around, breaking twice in succession himself as an increase in his aggression on the forehand wing twice forced Bellucci to net.Serve then held through to a tie-break which Nadal gratefully took without dropping a point.His tie-break implosion did not immediately affect Bellucci at the start of the second set though, earning himself a break point in the third game with a neat volley, which Nadal staved off.But Bellucci did start to wobble after that, conceding his serve in the sixth game, with Nadal setting up break point with a wonderful backhand lob and his opponent validating it when he planted a routine one-hander long.A routine hold to love then indicated Nadal had worn Bellucci down and so it proved in the eighth game, with Nadal earning and taking two set points. Two winning forehands got him in the position and a vicious backhand return took him to 6-2.It looked as though it would be a procession for Nadal en route to victory after that, especially when he broke in the second game of the third set - Bellucci hitting a backhand wide.But the break back was immediate, with Bellucci displaying admirable character to pull back into things, applying enough pressure on Nadal to force him to hit off court.However his revival would only be a temporary one, with Nadal benefiting from a clip on the net to earn a sixth-game break point which he converted with a booming forehand, before seeing the game out.
 |
| Petra Kvitova Defending Champion Petra Kvitova reached the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, but only after surviving an early truggle.The Czech, who became the first woman born in the 1990s to win a major when she beat Maria Sharapova in the 2011 final, fought back from 3-0 and 4-1 down in the first set before seeing off Amanmuradova, who has now lost all her five first round appearances here.Once Kvitova had reeled off seven successive games to take the first set and lead 2-0 in the second, the 22-year-old was comfortably in control, managing to shrug off a brief rain delay at 40-40 at 5-3 in the second set."It's unbelievable to come back as defending champion," said Kvitova, who started her 2011 title-winning campaign out on Court 15."I was nervous at the start. On grass you never know what to expect from me."World number four Kvitova will now face either Italy's Karin Knapp or Elena Baltacha for a place in the last 32. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment