The defending champion, Serena Williams, opened her Wimbledon campaign with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Swiss qualifier, Amra Sadikovic, in just 73 minutes. It was a tough first match for the top seed who served four double faults and only four aces.
Williams grabs a tricky first set
It was a tough start for the world number one who began with two unforced errors. Sadikovic took advantage of Williams’ mistakes and quickly found herself with a break point, however, the Swiss lost the chance to break the American after a series of unforced errors. Williams stepped up her game in the second game, hitting three great winners and with the help of her opponent who hit a double-fault got the early break.
That erratic Williams from the first game was gone as the American managed to hold her serve to love to lead 3-0. The next game would be crucial for the Swiss who needed to win her serve if she wanted to get a chance to be back in the set. It was a long game, but after many mistakes from the American, she was able to get on the scoreboard.
Things started to get complicated for the American who despite being a break up was making many unforced errors. Williams was up 40-30 but then hit two double faults in a row to give her opponent break point. The Swiss would lose that and another chance to break gifting Williams the game for her to lead 4-1.
There was an exchange of holds before the second break of the match happened. While on serve, Sadikovic soon found herself in trouble as she was down 0-40 but the Swiss managed to save them all, however, three unforced errors in a row gave Williams the first set in just 36 minutes.
A lot of unforced errors by both players, but Williams breaks at the right time
Despite an erratic first set, Williams opened the second set with a hold to love. The Swiss struggled a bit more, but also managed to win her service game to level things up at 1-1. Now it was the turn of Sadikovic to take all the chances the American was gifting her and in the third game of the set she did. Williams hit four unforced errors and the Swiss finally got the break and the lead in the second set.
However, it didn’t last long as now it was Sadikovic time to consolidate but instead had a game full of mistakes to give the break back to Williams and stand at 2-2. The mistakes continued for the Swiss who hadn’t won a point in the last eleven points and that helped the American who again was in the lead.
Even though her opponent was playing erratic tennis, the American was not doing any better only winning her serve because of the mistakes of Sadikovic but hardly making winners. In the sixth game, all the points played were unforced errors from both players, however, those mistakes eventually helped the Swiss to hold her serve and tie it at 3-3.
It was a bad start for Williams who lost a point with a volley unforced error and a double fault. Still, the top seed recovered and went on to win the game with an ace. Another game full of unforced errors helped Sadikovic to keep her serve again. It was no problem for Williams to hold and be one game away from the second round. The American quickly got herself three match points and although the Swiss saved one with a backhand winner it was not enough to save the match. Williams went on to hit a backhand return winner to book her spot in the second round.
Williams to meet McHale in the second round
This will be the third meeting between the Americans, Williams leads the head-to-head 2-0. On paper, however, this should be the fourth meeting as Christina McHale won their first encounter by walkover in Rome last year. The other two encounters took place this year, the first one was in Miami where McHale managed to win a set. The second one was again in Rome but Williams prevailed this time in straight sets.
