The thermometer on Centre Court read 41 degrees, but there
was no major meltdown from Britain’s number one Andy Murray who opened up his
Wimbledon campaign with a straight sets victory.
There were times when he was forced to battle and grind
against his Kazakh opponent Mikhail Kukushkin, a player who has been lingering
around the world’s top 50 for the last few years. However after a couple of
minor blips and just over 2 hours of play Wimbledon’s dependable home favourite
had surpassed the 1st round for the tenth time in his career,
winning 6-4 7-6(3) 6-4.
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| Britain's Andy Murray in first round action |
For a set and a half the passage to round two appeared
relatively straightforward, as Murray quickly rediscovered the impressive form
which helped him lift the Queens Club title a week ago.
A break of serve when leading 5-4 in the first set was
ideal; another at the start of the second gave the impression that this would
be another routine victory, just like the ones produced by Petra Kvitova and
Roger Federer who had graced the Centre Court surroundings earlier in the
day.
With Murray leading by a set and 3-0, there was a real
possibility that the order of play in the main arena, which included two men’s
and one women’s match, could be done and
dusted by as early as five o’clock such was the one sided nature.
A Murray victory would have been at the top of most agendas,
but a decent match would have also come pretty high up the pecking order. To Kukushkin’s
credit the crowd received both, as the world number 58 broke back instantly.
That was just the start of a puzzling run of games and from
Murray’s point of view things turned a little messy. After reclaiming his
advantage the Brit served for a two set lead, at 30-0 it appeared only a matter
of time.
Yet in an extraordinary turn of events, Kukushkin suddenly
ceased the tide. He let loose on his groundstrokes, as his flat shot trajectory
zipped through grass, which remains in a slick and verdant condition.
The Kazakh went on to break Murray not once but twice as the
Brit’s serve deserted him, allowing Kukushkin to serve for the set at 6-5 up.
In the end it was an opportunity not taken and when Murray finally clinched the
set on a tiebreak normal service resumed.
A single break was enough in the third as Murray advanced to
a second round match with Dutchman Robin Haase “It was a tough match. I made it
hard for myself in the second set" added Murray.
There was even more British success on the outside courts as
Heather Watson, James Ward and Aljaz Bedene all joined Murray in round two.
Watson was first to advance in the women’s singles after beating the 32nd
seed Caroline Garcia 8-6 in the third set following the match’s delay due to
bad light on Monday.
Bedene, who was playing his first Grand Slam match as a Brit
since switching nationality from Slovenia in March, beat Czech Radek Stepanek
in five sets. Meanwhile Ward, who has been renowned for his impressive Davis Cup performances in
recent years, recovered from a set down to overcome Italy’s Luca Vanni 6-7
(4-7) 6-2 6-4 6-3.
In the men’s draw there were straight set victories for
Federer and Rafael Nadal, while Jo-Wilfred Tsonga pulled through against Gilles
Muller in five sets. There were more major shocks in the women’s draw as
Eugenie Bouchard lost to Ying-Ying Duan and 3rd seed Simona Halep fell
to Jana Cepelova from Slovakia.
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