Murray Routs, Sharapova Shines At Wimbledon
After a close first set, going down a break early, hometown favorite and fourth seed Andy Murray rebounded from some early trouble to advance comfortably over Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2.
Murray started off the match in tentative fashion, likely feeling some of the pressure of being a Brit. He quickly shook the nerves, however, and after breaking back, strung together a second break to take the first set.
In the second set, Murray looked like his comfortable self. All the powerful, well-placed ground strokes Hajek displayed in the first set quickly disappeared. Andy found his stroke, running Hajek all over the court and showing his depth of variety.
Murray allowed Hajek only a single game in the second set and continued rolling in the third. Any distinction of play between the second and third sets wasn't visible as Andy got off to a break immediately in the third set and didn't let up in advancing to the second round.
Andy is starting to realize he has to change his game to be a major title contender. Sure, pushing the ball and waiting for your opponent to make the errors will work against the lower ranked players. Against guys like Federer, Nadal, or Roddick, waiting for them to slip up simply won't work. You have to be aggressive, you have to be offensive, and that's exactly what we were seeing from Murray in the last two sets.
On the women's side, French Open finalist Samantha Stosur couldn't put together a grass court run, losing to qualifier Kaia Kanepi in straight sets. Stosur didn't do well in the grass court warmups and many were questioning how she'd do here at Wimbledon. Their questions were answered as Stosur couldn't find her game in her fourth first round exit at Wimbledon, pushing her to a 5-8 record at this particular major.
Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were in much better form. Sharapova was up against Anastasia Pivovarova and really set the bar for the women's field. She steam rolled her opponent 6-1, 6-0, proving she's here and ready to win.
Serena also got in on some bagel action, defeating Michelle Larcher De Brito 6-0, 6-4. The Williams sisters have completely dominated Wimbledon the past decade, winning eight of the last ten with four doubles titles to boot. Serena and Sharapova's performances in round one should strike fear into the rest of the players in the women's draw.
Also of note: The Spanish momentum from clay court dominance disappeared, as No. 9 David Ferrer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal were two of three winners among eleven Spanish men...some top seeds have struggled, with Stosur joining fifth seed Francesca Schiavone on the trip home, while Federer, Djokovic and Davydenko all needed five sets to advance.
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