London: Carlos Alcaraz made a stumbling start to his Wimbledon title defence on Monday before coming through in straight sets against Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal.
The Spanish third seed was taken to a tie-break in the opening set and trailed 2-0 against his unheralded opponent in the second but held his nerve to win 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-2.
Alcaraz, still only 21, is chasing his fourth Grand Slam title and hopes to become just the sixth man after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.
He came into the match short of practice on grass after making an early exit from Queen’s, where he was also the defending champion.
The dreadlocked Lajal, also 21, had never won a Grand Slam qualifying match let alone a main draw tie before last week and has just two wins on the ATP Tour in his career.
But the 269th-ranked player put up an impressive fight against his illustrious opponent on Centre Court, forcing the first break of the match, which was cancelled out straight away by Alcaraz.
The Spaniard won the first set tie-break but Lajal broke again to take a 2-0 lead in the second set. Again a ruffled Alcaraz snuffed out his opponent’s advantage.
The defending champion, who won his first French Open title last month, forced a crucial break in the 11th game and served out to love to take a two-set lead.
Alcaraz, who struck 44 winners in total, stepped up a gear in the third set, winning 92 percent of points on his first serve.
He raced into a 5-1 lead and although he was briefly held up he served out to win in two hours and 22 minutes.
The third seed will face Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic or Austria’s Sebastian Ofner in the second round.
Wawrinka makes flying start
Stan Wawrinka won his Wimbledon opener on Monday at the age of 39, beating British wild card Charles Broom in straight sets.
The Swiss three-time Grand Slam champion, the oldest man in the draw, hit 38 winners in a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory on No. 2 Court.
Victory means Wawrinka, who has slumped to 95th in the world, is just the 10th man in the Open Era to win a Wimbledon singles match aged 39 or older.
The former world number three came into the match with just three wins under his belt on the ATP Tour this year.
The two-time former Wimbledon quarter-finalist will face either Gael Monfils or 22nd seed Adrian Mannarino in the second round.
Medvedev cruises into second round
Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev reached the second round of Wimbledon on Monday and admitted he was happy not to be playing on the All England Club’s famed Centre Court.
Medvedev, a semi-finalist last year, hit 16 aces in his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Aleksandar Kovacevic of the United States.
“I’ve still never lost on Court One so hopefully I can play a lot more matches on this court,” said Medvedev.
“Last year I said it was unfortunate I had to go to Centre Court for the semis and I lost.
“So for the moment, I want to play on Court One, enjoy and try to win.”
Medvedev goes on to face either Alexandre Muller or Hugo Gaston for a place in the last 32.
Heartbroken’ Sabalenka withdraws from Wimbledon
Australian Open champion and world number three Aryna Sabalenka said on Monday she was “heartbroken” to have withdrawn from Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury.
“Heartbroken to have to tell you all that I won’t be able to play The Championships this year,” 26-year-old Sabalenka wrote on X.
“I tried everything to get myself ready but unfortunately my shoulder is not cooperating. This tournament means so much to me and I promise I’ll be back stronger than ever next year.”
Sabalenka, a two-time semi-finalist at the All England Club, is replaced in the draw by Russian lucky loser Erika Andreeva, who will face American qualifier Emina Bektas in the first round.
Wimbledon 2024: Carlos Alcaraz started off his campaign with a nervy win against Mark Lajal. Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka and Russian ace Daniil Medvedev also progressed. Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
