Great escape for Fedex
Roger Federer averted one of the biggest shocks in Wimbledon history when the defending men’s champion recovered from two sets down to beat Colombia’s Alejandro Falla in the first round Monday.
The Swiss top seed seemed woefully out of form as his unfancied opponent, the world number 60, stunned the crowd by taking the first two sets in the first match on Centre Court this year.
But the six-time Wimbledon champion recovered to win 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0.
Federer has only lost once at the All England Club since 2002, when he lost the 2008 final to Rafael Nadal.
But he avoided becoming only the third ever defending men’s Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round by recovering his game.
Federer had won all four of his previous encounters with Falla in straight sets, including both of their last two tournaments - two weeks ago on the grass at Halle, and in the French Open.
Russian seventh seed Nikolay Davydenko fought back to beat South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 9-7. Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun made it safely through to the second round of the men’s singles at Wimbledon with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 win over Horacio Zeballos of Argentina on Monday.
Lu’s win, his first opening round victory here since 2005, added to the victory of compatriot Chan Yung-Jan, who reached the second round of the women’s singles for the first time in her career after a 6-0, 6-2 win over Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder.
Belgium’s Kim Clijsters made up for lost time as she demolished Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-3 in her first singles appearance at Wimbledon in four years.
Clijsters was one of the leading players on the womens tour when she retired in 2007 after becoming disillusioned with her constant battle with injury.
Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn had a harsh introduction to Grand Slam tennis when she was knocked out of the first round.
The 18-year-old lost 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour to Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, ranked 147 in the world, who will now meet Vera Zvonareva, the world number 21 from Russia, in the second stage.
— Agencies
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