Wimbledon Day 1 Highlights: Defending champion Novak Djokovic began his title defence with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 win against Pedro Cachin in the first round. World No.1 Iga Swiatek defeated Zhu Lin 6-1, 6-3 in the first round. Seventh seed Andrey Rublev also won against Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to move to the second round.
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Wimbledon Day 1 Key matches
Men’s Singles
- Andrey Rublev BEAT Max Purcell – 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
- Novak Djokovic BEAT Pedro Cachin – 6-3, 6-3, 7-6
- Casper Ruud BEAT Laurent Lokoli – 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
- Jannik Sinner BEAT Juan Cerundolo – 6-2, 6-2, 6-2
Women’s Singles
- Iga Swiatek BEAT Zhu Lin – 6-1, 6-3
- Venus Williams LOST TO Elina Svitolina – 4-6, 3-6
- Coco Gauff LOST TO Sofia Kenin – 4-6, 6-4, 2-6
The defending champion Novak Djokovic eased to a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4) first-round triumph against Pedro Cachin to launch his bid for a fifth consecutive crown at the grass-court major in style. Djokovic dropped serve in the third game of the match but barely looked back from then on as he wrapped a two-hour, 11-minute victory.
“It doesn’t get much better than Wimbledon, really, in terms of history and tradition,” said Djokovic in his on-court interview. “I’ve said it many times throughout my career. Coming to Wimbledon was always the dream, to win it. A childhood dream came true in 2011 and each year I come back I kind of relive those memories and just kind of connect with that young boy that was dreaming in Serbia.
“I try to not take any match, any minute that I spend on the court here for granted. I’m definitely blessed, so it’s a wonderful feeling to be here.”
Andrey Rublev became the first men’s player to reach the second round at Wimbledon on Monday when he moved past Australian Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
The seventh seed struck the ball with relentless power throughout the one-hour, 33-minute clash and battled hard in the second set, rallying from 2-5 in the second set. With his 32nd win of the season, Rublev maintained his perfect first-round record at Wimbledon.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek advanced despite a rain delay as Wimbledon got started on Monday. Swiatek, who owns four major titles, but hasn’t been past the fourth round at the All England Club, beat Zhu Lin of China 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 Court, winning the final two games after the roof was closed following a rain delay.
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