The Championships, Wimbledon June 29-July 12

Wimbledon, Great Britain

 

Andy Murray made to sweat for opening Wimbledon win

In temperatures which reached 41 degrees centigrade on Centre Court, Andy Murray needed more than two hours to get through his first test at the All England Club in 2015 as he began his quest to reclaim the Wimbledon title with a 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Mikhail Kukushkin on Tuesday .

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/13174724/andy-murray-made-sweat-opening-wimbledon-win-kukushkin

 

Nadal powers his way past Bellucci

Rafael Nadal smacked a double fault while serving at 5-2, 40-15 in the second set against Thomaz Bellucci in their first-round match at Wimbledon, whereupon a fan wailed, "Come on Rafa, we love you!" It was a measure of how desperately Nadal's fans would love to see the fallen "King of Clay," who is seeded just No. 10 here at Wimbledon, recapture the form that carried him to five finals and two titles here in years past.

He took a significant step toward that goal in his debut against Bellucci. These are the key elements and takeaways from Nadal's 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win:

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon...ledon-rafael-nadal-powers-way-thomaz-bellucci

 

Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard ousted at Wimbledon

Simona Halep became the highest-seeded player to lose at Wimbledon on Tuesday, falling in the first round a year after reaching the semifinals at the All England Club.

And the third-seeded Romanian had company, as Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, last year's runner-up, continued her year-long slump by losing her opening match.

Halep, who also reached the French Open final last year, lost to Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon...on-women-first-round-matches-all-england-club

 

Kei Nishikori pulls out of Wimbledon with calf injury

After fighting through a calf injury in the first round at Wimbledon,Kei Nishikori couldn't even step onto Centre Court for his second match.

The fifth-seeded Japanese player had to pull out before his second-round meeting with Santiago Giraldo of Colombia on Wednesday. Nishikori hurt his left calf at the grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, two weeks ago and aggravated it during a five-set victory over Simone Bolelli on Monday.

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon...015-wimbledon-kei-nishikori-pulls-calf-injury

 

John Isner advances to third round, but can he take the next step?

John Isner has now entered the portion of our program, the third round, where he traditionally departs from the All England Club.

He has been a top-10 player and his massive serve is often unhittable when it careens off the grass surface here, but he also has failed to book a ticket to the second week in his previous six outings.

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon...15-john-isner-advances-third-round-go-further

 

Djokovic dominates Nieminen at Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic is the No. 1 seed here at the All England Club, but for about six minutes Wednesday, the guy on the other side of the net seemed to be The One.

Jarkko Nieminen, playing in his last Wimbledon, hit four astounding winners in Djokovic's opening service game and won seven of the first nine points, leaving the Centre Court crowd buzzing in amazement.

Naturally, order was soon restored, and Djokovic, the defending champion, settled into his usual methodical match. He was a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 winner and will face No. 27 seedBernard Tomic in the third round Friday

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/french15/...-djokovic-dominates-jarkko-nieminen-wimbledon

 

Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova advance to third round

Serena Williams won again at Wimbledon on Wednesday, advancing to the third round as she tries to win a calendar-year Grand Slam.

Williams beat Timea Babos 6-4, 6-1 on Centre Court. The 20-time major champion has already won the Australian Open and the French Open this year. If she can win the last two majors, she would become the first player to win a true Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.

Maria Sharapova also made her way into the third round, two years after losing at the same stage.

The fourth-seeded Sharapova beat Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp 6-3, 6-1 on Court No. 2 to improve her record in second-round Grand Slam matches to 41-4.

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon...n-women-second-round-matches-all-england-club

 

Jelena Jankovic ousts defending Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova

About an hour after flopping on her back and kicking her feet overhead to celebrate a stunning comeback against defending Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, Jelena Jankovic still was giddy.

"I cannot stop smiling. ... I was very brave at the end. You know, here I am," she said through a giggle. "Unbelievable."

Jankovic kept using that word -- "unbelievable" -- as if trying to convince herself it were true that, despite never having much success on grass courts, she had put together a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory Saturday over the No. 2-seeded Kvitova, who claimed the 2011 and 2014 titles at the All England Club.

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/i...on-women-third-round-matches-all-england-club

 

Federer defuses Groth to advance at Wimbledon

In the third game of their Centre Court encounter, Australian Sam Groth hit a scorching 147 mph serve that Roger Federer couldn't quite handle.

It was, certifiably, the second-fastest serve in Wimbledon's 138-year history. Five years ago, Taylor Dent hit a 148 mph fireball in the direction of Novak Djokovic.

Groth is a big fan of Australian Rules football and, at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, he looks as though he could play the game. Instead, he hits aces for a living. Three years ago, he clocked 163 in a Challenger in Korea, a professional record.

None of this fazed Federer, who has a history of defusing these bombs with something approaching disdain. He's 59-10 against the ATP World Tour's 10 fastest servers on record. Feast your eyes on these tasty head-to-heads: Andy Roddick (21-3), Ivo Karlovic (13-1) and Dent (2-0).

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon...don-roger-federer-handles-sam-groth-four-sets

 

Murray survives scare to see off Seppi at Wimbledon

If there was a brief moment where Andy Murray's passage through to the second week of Wimbledon for the eighth successive year was in doubt, he answered the question posed to him by Andreas Seppi in emphatic fashion.

Having romped through the first two sets on Centre Court, and after his opponent took a medical timeout, Murray lost six games in a row to drop the third set and go a break down in the fourth.

But the British No.1 can play mind games too. He called the trainer on himself and regained his composure to blow the Italian away, sealing a 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory in a little over two hours.

Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/i...s-scare-see-andreas-seppi-four-sets-wimbledon