Djokovic slides to victory, Tsitsipas crashes
Novak Djokovic overcame an early
wobble before getting his bid for a sixth Wimbledon and record-equalling 20th
Grand Slam title off to a winning start on Monday and then saw potential
semi-final opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas crash out.
One year after the 2020 tournament
was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, defending champion and world
number one Djokovic claimed a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over Britain's
253rd-ranked Jack Draper.
Third seed Tsitsipas, however,
beaten by Djokovic in the French Open final just two weeks ago, slumped to his
third first round defeat in four visits to the tournament.
America's Frances Tiafoe, ranked 57,
stunned the Greek star 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
Djokovic, 34, struggled on the
slippery Centre Court surface with the roof closed above it due to the rain
which had delayed play on outside courts for five hours.
Left-handed Draper, playing just his
fifth match on the main tour, saved seven of seven break points in the opener
to stun the top seed.
But Djokovic soon snuffed out any
danger of him becoming only the third defending champion to lose in the first
round, by sweeping through the remainder of the tie.
He finished with an impressive 25
aces and 47 winners as his 19-year-old opponent, who grew up just six miles
(9.5km) from the All England Club, wilted.
‘I probably
had one of the best serving performances that I can recall on any surface,’ said
Djokovic who fired 25 aces and 47 winners.
With the Australian and French Open
titles under his belt, the Serb is bidding to become only the third man in
history to claim a calendar Grand Slam.
His match was preceded by a standing
ovation for Professor Sarah Gilbert, one of the key scientists behind the
Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine who was a special guest in the Royal Box.
Tiafoe won a second-tier grass court
Challenger event in Nottingham this month before making the quarter-finals at
Queen's Club.
On Monday, he made that match
hardness pay against Tsitsipas, playing only his 16th match on grass.
It was the first time in 12 attempts
that 23-year-old Tiafoe had beaten a player ranked in the top five.
‘It sounds
pretty damn good,’ said Tiafoe.
Wimbledon looks very different this
year with Covid-19 protocols in place and a 50% capacity until finals day, but
one familiar feature was the summer rain.
Play on the outside courts started
so late that 16 of the day's scheduled 64 matches were cancelled until Tuesday.
Belarus second seed Aryna Sabalenka
had the honour of being the first winner at the tournament in two years when she
downed Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-4 under the roof of Court
One.
Sabalenka fired 48 winners past
Niculescu.
‘I was
nervous a little bit because I haven't played on the show courts at Wimbledon,’ said
Sabalenka who has yet to make the last-eight of a major.
Former US Open champion Sloane
Stephens knocked out Czech 10th seed Petra Kvitova, the 2011 and 2014 champion,
6-3, 6-4.
Garbine Muguruza, the 2017 winner,
needed just under an hour to see off France's Fiona Ferro 6-0, 6-1.
Two-time champion Andy Murray is
back on Centre Court against Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili, a semi-finalist in
Halle.
Murray, now ranked at 118, is
playing his first singles match at Wimbledon since 2017 after a lengthy battle
with hip and groin injuries.
Players are confined to a hotel
'bubble' in central London this year.
However, there have already been two
virus-related withdrawals.
Britain's Johanna Konta was
identified as a close contact of a positive coronavirus case and will have to
self-isolate.
The world number 31, a semi-finalist
at the tournament in 2017, had been drawn to face Katerina Siniakova of the
Czech Republic.
The 30-year-old's place will be
taken by 123rd-ranked lucky loser Wang Yafan of China.
On Saturday, former men's doubles
champion Frederik Nielsen was forced to withdraw after also being identified as
a close contact.
‘This is not
unexpected,’ said All England Club chief executive Sally
Bolton.
‘It's
terribly sad for the players but it's something we plan for. We have protocols
in place.’