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June 30, 2016

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Radwanska wins at rain-lashed Wimbledon

WITH rain delaying play on the outside courts, Agnieszka Radwanska wasted no time in taking care of business under the roof on Centre Court.

The third-seeded Pole, who reached the final at Wimbledon in 2012, overwhelmed Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 6-1 in just over an hour yesterday to move into the second round at the All England Club in southwest London.

Radwanska used her clever all-court game to dominate the 97th-ranked Ukrainian, who was making her main draw debut at Wimbledon and has never won a grand slam match. Radwanska won the first four games and was always in control.

“A one-hour match is always good, especially with that weather,” Radwanska said. “Now we’re playing every day, so I’m just very happy with that win and ready for the next one.”

The match was played in its entirety under the retractable roof, which was closed after steady rain lashed the grounds and forced delays on all other courts.

“It’s like an indoors tournament, sometimes,” Radwanska said. “Have to kind of get used to that. Of course, it’s a little bit different without the sun, without the wind. So it’s a different game. But, well, it’s good that we could play today.”

Radwanska lost to Serena Williams in three sets in the 2012 final. The two are in the same half of the draw this year and could meet in the semifinals.

“(I’m) trying every year to do better and better, of course,” Radwanska said. “I was close a couple times. So it’s another year to try. And hopefully I can do one step (further).”

Next up on Centre Court was defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic, who faced Adrian Mannarino, a Frenchman playing on his 28th birthday.

The Serb, bidding to extend his grand slam match-winning streak to 30, which would give him sole ownership of third place on the all-time list of most consecutive victories at the majors, was broken in the third set but managed to take the tie-breaker 7-5. He advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory.

But all that seemed just a warm-up to the main event coming later in the day.

Seven-time champion Roger Federer had a second-round match against Marcus Willis, a 772nd-ranked British qualifier who had never won a tour-level match until Monday.

Willis is the lowest-ranked qualifier to reach the second round of a grand slam since 1988, when Jared Palmer at No. 923 reached the second round of the US Open.

He gives tennis lessons at a club in central England and was only recently talked out of giving up on his goal of making it on the pro tour by his girlfriend.

Now, Willis gets to face Federer on the most famous court in tennis, with a large group of friends and family on hand to support him in a journey that has captivated the British public.

Federer has career earnings just shy of the US$100 million; Willis has banked around just US$200 this year and still lives with his parents.

“This is the kind of story we need. I think it’s great. I’m very excited to be playing him actually. It’s not something I get to do very often,” Federer said.

Before play was stopped by rain on the outside courts, three players managed to finish matches that had been suspended the previous day: 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic completed a 7-5, 7-5 (5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (2) win over Croat Ivan Dodig; Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, seeded No. 32, beat Nao Hibino of Japan, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; and Evgeniya Rodina of Russia downed Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 6-3, 7-5.




 

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