The 2nd seed Garbine Muguruza got a tough draw of Camila Giorgi, who is always a tough opponent, especially on fast surfaces. Muguruza beat Giorgi 6-2 5-7 6-4. “I’m happy,” said the World No.2. “Like I said before, sometimes you don’t win the most beautiful way. You got to be there fighting and waiting for your chance, especially against a player that bangs the ball. Is a very tough opponent to begin the tournament (against).” This was a hard fought win. The Spaniard will next face a similar player to Giorgi, Jana Cepelova.
Venus Williams also didn’t have an easy player to open against, as she faced the young Donna Vekic. Both players were on their favourite surfaces, and the World No. 112 Vekic, really gave the 36 year-old a run for her money. Venus Williams got past her opponent in two close sets 7-6(3) 6-4. “I had some hairy moments in the first set, and that’s where experience sets in,” said Williams. “She hit more winners than I did [21 to Williams’ 10] and seemed to track down every ball that I hit. But you have to enjoy the battle every time on court, enjoy that fight. I do remember my first year here. It wasn’t very fantastic. I was just so nervous. But thankfully since then, I’ve able to handle my nerves a little better. I don’t have any regrets because I’ve always worked my hardest.”
No. 4 seed started off her Wimbledon against Laura Robson, who entered with a wild card. Kerber dominated throughout the match, and got a swift win of 6-2 6-2 in just an hour and 9 minutes. “It’s always tough to play against her because she is also a lefty,” said the German. “It’s always nice to play on a big stage, and I like this tournament so much. I have great memories from here. I’m happy to get this first round win – after my first round loss in Paris, it’s great to start the tournament like this.”
“For me, it’s really almost a new career. I’m not going to keep looking back at what I did when I was 14 and what I did a couple years ago. I am where I am. I need to work on improving that and not just looking in the past. It can change pretty quickly – Jo Konta took a wild card here last year, and now she’s in the top 20.” said Robson.
After becoming the first American woman to break Top 10 since Serena Williams in 1999, thanks to winning a title at Birmingham, Keys started the third grand slam of the year with a smooth 6-3 6-1 win over Laura Siegemund. The longest women’s match of the day was played between the 28th seed and 2014 semifinalist Lucie Safarova and the unpredictable American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Safarova won the match 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 7-5 after amazing 2 hours and 47 minutes. The shortest match of the day, not counting the retirement by Margarita Gasparyan, was Kirsten Flipkens defeating Nicole Gibbs 6-3 6-1 in just 50 minutes.
