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The third Grand Slam of the year got underway this week on the green grass of Wimbledon. Early headlines in London were about the recent words exchanged by top home players dav6789 and NEA, or about heavy title favourites Vanessa Child and Yodavitch.
The tournament began in perfect conditions on the longest day of the year in England. Play started at 10:00 am, and finished around 9:30 pm. Beta and Cecil played on into the evening in a draining match, with Cecil finally prevailing 7-6 4-6 7-5. Sheila also grabbed media attention on the first day. The crowds spurred her on as she fought back from a set down to defeat Rachy. Young American Tennis Fan narrowly missed out on a place in round 2, he bowed out in 3 sets to Rhomberg.
Defending Champion Jennacourt walked out proudly on the first match on Centre Court. This was a highly anticipated encounter between her and Sheila, who have not exactly seen eye to eye in the past. Sheila was playing inspired tennis as she won a close set 7-5, but Jennacourt began to feel comfortable on the court she triumphed on 12 months ago. She cruised through the rest of the match, and showed her intentions of defending her crown. PSALT was another who had to fight back from a set deficit. He finally ended the stubborn resistance of Fulgora 5-7 6-4 6-3.Vanessa Child also survived a scare in her first match. Making her first appearance since winning the French Open, she had a lapse mid-way through her match, but pulled through 6-2 6-7 6-3. There were no scares at all for any of the other top seeds. Australian Open Champion Yodavitch cruised past Ying-Chang, who had won a grasscourt event before Wimbledon. dav6789 and Tricatrina had comfortable openers to set up a 3rd round encounter. The other British hope, NEA, was impressive during his 6-3 6-4 win against Duke. 3rd seed. leftys_rock had a good start aswell, easily beating Phobe. Other highlights of this round were John Edelstein’s encouraging comeback against Dreyfus. Edelstein, coming in from a fantastic Tier 1 victory and looking for a career Grand Slam, found it hard to adjust to the courts at Wimbledon. He lost the first set on a tie-break, but got his serve together and broke Dreyfus to love. In the final set, Dreyfus led by a break but couldn’t put away the determined Edelstein, who broke back twice for the win. Canadians x.doublea and stevos14 provided an entertaining match. Their contrast in styles was fun to watch, but the aggressor, x.doublea, was rewarded for his willingness to approach the net. x.doublea won the match 7-6 2-6 6-4. J-man, surprisingly unseeded at this event, had a great win over 14th seed Agassi2000, 7-5 7-5. The 14th seed hung in well, but couldn’t get into the match against his in-form opponent.
The third round was more competitive however. NEA had the crowds screaming during his win over leftys_rock. They have played each other a lot in their careers. leftys_rock dominated the rivalry earlier on, but NEA has started to beat leftys more this year. The pair split the first two sets. The final set was high quality tennis, but NEA dug deep to win 6-3. Defending champion Jennacourt once again recovered from a slow start. She lost the first set to Avolt 5-7 but showed her championship form to win the next two 6-0 6-3. J-man showed he had put the disappointment of his French Open behind him during his 7-6 4-6 6-4 win over Bizet. Yodavitch beat John Edelstein to deny him a chance at a career Grand Slam. Stroganoff upset 7th seed PSALT in a marathon match. Others who progressed to the last 8 were top seed Vanessa Child, and dav6789 who both had straight set wins, and x.doublea, who beat 6th seed Mollusk.
The QF line-up was as exciting as ever, with 3 of the 4 seeds still remaining. Jennacourt finally looked settled on the court and enjoyed a straight sets win over Stroganoff, who appeared tired following his long match in the previous round. x.doublea ended J-man’s run to reach the SF for the first time. On the other side of the draw, hopes of an all-British semi-final were dashed by Vanessa Child and Yodavitch, the year’s two best players so far. dav6789 came out firing against Child and won the first set 6-3. Child responded like a champion and forced her way to another SF. That was their 3rd QF meeting in the last 4 Grand Slams. Yodavitch defeated NEA 6-4 6-4 to set up a re-match of the French Open final.
From the SF stage, it looked certain that the winner would come out of the top half. Child and Yodavitch had shared the first two Grand Slams of the year, and were the top two ranked players in the world. Things remained even between them during the match as they split the first two sets 6-4. In the final set, Child played some of the best tennis of her life and showed why she is world number 1. She cruised through to the final 6-1. In the other SF Jennacourt only just managed to hold onto her title, having to produce yet another comeback. Having been in control for most of the match, the Canadian fought back to win a close second set and go up in the final set. Jennacourt looked more determined than ever and hung on to win 6-4 5-7 7-5.
The final didn’t reflect the competitiveness of the tournament at all. It was a straight set thrashing from Child. Jennacourt put up some great resistance at times, but it wasen’t enough to stop the onslaught of the world number 1. Child won the match 6-4 6-2 to retain the title she had won in Seasons 1 and 2. This is the second time she has won the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back. Like the Williams Series, Wimbledon’s only Champions are Child and Jennacourt. Child holds the edge at Wimbledon though. She is now the first player of this era to win a Grand Slam 3 times. Her and Yodavitch continue to lead the rankings, and although Jennacourt reached the final, there hasen’t been much evidence of Child and Yodavitch’s lead dipping.
