Imperious Djokovic brushes Anderson aside to reach third round

Top seed Novak Djokovic clinically dispatched big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-3 6-3 on Wednesday to glide ominously into the Wimbledon third round.

Defending champion Djokovic, bidding for a sixth Wimbledon and record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title, was imperious during a grass court masterclass on Centre Court. In a repeat of the 2018 final, the Serbian broke Anderson’s serve once in each set and offered up only five unforced errors.

His only minor concern were a number of tumbles to the turf on the lush grass, but he remained unruffled.

Twice Grand Slam runner-up Anderson, who is battling back after knee problems, did not play a bad match but Djokovic was at his ruthless best as he won in an hour and 41 minutes.

“It was almost flawless today, I hope my coach agrees with that,” the 34-year-old said on court. Few would disagree.

Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios marked his long-awaited return to action by completing a 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-1 9-7 win over Ugo Humbert in a match held over from the previous evening.

Play was suspended at 3-3 in the deciding set at 11pm on Tuesday after 21st seed Humbert had led by two sets to one. But Kyrgios, one of the biggest draws in the sport, showed great composure to finish the job on Court One and set up a second-round clash with Italian Gianluca Mager.

“Not too bad for a part-timer,” the 26-year-old Kyrgios, playing his first match since losing in the third round of the Australian Open in February having opted against travelling because of the pandemic, said on court. 

See-saw action

“It didn’t take much to get me off my couch when I heard there would be crowds here because I love Wimbledon,” he said.

The see-sawing action of the previous evening had taken place under lights and the Court One roof. But the match resumed in open air with the first eight games all going with serve. There was an anxious moment for the Australian when he slipped trying to change direction and fell awkwardly and briefly looked in pain, holding his hip.

But he picked himself up and it was Frenchman Humbert, winner of the grass court title in Halle recently, who blinked first when he played a poor service game at 7-7 to hand Kyrgios the chance he had been waiting for. Kyrgios went 15-40 down on serve but showed his steel to claw back the deficit and claimed victory with a sliding serve down the middle.

World No 5 Elina Svitolina was made to work hard in a tight first-round match on Wednesday as the Ukrainian sealed a 6-3 2-6 6-3 victory over unseeded Belgian Alison van Uytvanck.

The pair traded breaks at the start of their second career meeting before Svitolina gained the upper hand after a tight game to go 4-2 up and the third seed held off a late fightback to claim the first set.

Rediscovered rhythm

The aggressive Van Uytvanck mixed up her shots, with rifled drives and delicate drops, and took every chance to approach the net to break Svitolina for a 3-1 lead in the second set before levelling the match at one set apiece.

Both players wobbled on serve before 2019 semifinalist Svitolina rediscovered her rhythm in the decider on Court One to close out the victory with a forehand winner.

“The return was quite good for me today. I was striking the ball really good. On important moments, I was calm and my shots were quite good in the end,” Svitolina, who converted six out of 11 break point opportunities, told reporters.

There was little to separate the two with Svitolina sending down 34 winners — one more than Van Uytvanck — and both making 27 unforced errors.

“I’m just happy the way I was tracking the ball and that I could hold my nerve. This was very important for me today,” Svitolina added.

In the second round, the 26-year-old takes on Poland’s Magda Linette who beat unseeded American teenager Amanda Anisimova 2-6 6-3 6-1. 

Reuters