LONDON. – Muttering and mumbling throughout, Serena Williams
looked a tortured soul at Wimbledon on Wednesday before finally reaching the
third round.
After rating her first-round performance "two out of 10,"
Williams is unlikely to be satisfied with her ragged display on Wednesday when
she came back from a break down in each set before beating Australian Alicia
Molik 7-6, 6-3.
At least Williams already has two Wimbledon trophies to her
name. Fellow American Andy Roddick is still looking for his first.
Third seed Roddick, twice a finalist, has had six failed
bids and he moved a step closer to his dream with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 defeat of
Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke.
"It was an up and down match," the 24-year-old said.
"Mentally I was a bit up and down today but I got through it."
Danai’s defeat completed a bad day for the Asian nations.
Ninth seed Martina Hingis survived two match points in her previous match but
avoided any such drama in a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Japan’s Aiko Nakamura.
China’s Yan Zi, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Ayumi Morita of
Japan all bowed out in the first round of the women’s draw.
French Open champion Justine Henin enjoyed a swift 60-minute
workout to overcome Russia’s Vera Dushevina 6-0, 6-4 in the second round.
The Belgian’s last two victims at Roland Garros, Jelena
Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, are fast becoming used to the spotlight after they
were feted by thousands when they went home to Serbia following their Paris
exploits.
On Wednesday, however, sixth seed Ivanovic had to make do
with a more modest crowd on court 18 and surged past Melinda Czink 6-0, 7-6 in
another delayed first-round encounter.
Jankovic was even more ruthless in a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of
Slovakian Jarmila Gajdosova.
Men’s champion Roger Federer will have to complete
unfinished business on Thursday after his second round match against
Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro was suspended following a torrential downpour
over southwest London.
The Swiss world No. 1 was leading 6-2, 7-5, 2-0 when the
players had to scurry back into the locker room.
Williams has been tipped by many, including John McEnroe, to
win the title here but she has so far failed to live up to that expectation.
With more loose shots than winners, the seventh seed began
berating herself at 1-4 down in the first set.
"I just got really angry. I thought it was unfair that I got
down so far. I was like, ‘Okay, it’s just one break’. But 4-1 looks worse than
one break," said the 25-year-old.
A woman who defied the odds to win the Australian Open in
January while ranked 81st was not about to roll over. Williams missed a set
point on her serve at 6-5 but let out an almighty roar of "Come on!" when she
bagged it in the tiebreak with an ace.
She staged another fightback in the second, sealing it with
what she thought was a winning volley.
Yet the contest ended in confusion when Molik, after
exchanging handshakes with Williams, challenged a call midway through that
final rally on the advice of the umpire.
The Australian had no option but to accept defeat when
Hawkeye confirmed the line judge’s verdict.
"It was weird... (but) I would have challenged it, too,"
acknowledged Williams.
Henin also had to put her celebrations on hold when her
match ended in similar circumstances.
After firing an ace to finish the contest, she had to wait for Hawkeye to
verify the serve was good.
