By Liz Kobak
@LizTennis
Ten Americans were in action on the opening day at Wimbledon notching a 4-6 record.
The two American men, Rajeev Ram and John Isner, each registered victory. The two ATP tour veterans, who average first serves upward of 120 mph and earned college degrees from rival universities (Ram played for Illinois, Isner for University of Georgia), triumphed with relative ease over their non-seeded opponents. Isner notched a 6-1, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) win over Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy. Ram advanced out of the first round of tournament for the first time in his career with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-2 win over Lukas Lacko.
The American women posted a less-than-stellar 2-6 record. Melanie Oudin, Varvara Lepchenko, Vania King and Coco Vandeweghe all lost three-set matches while Lauren Davis and Alexa Glatch succumbed in straights. Only New Jersey’s Christina McHale and No. 17 Sloane Stephens advanced.
There were two slug fest match-ups that piqued crowds’ interests: 2013 Australian Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens vs. No. 41 Jamie Hampton and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova vs. American up-and-comer Coco Vandeweghe. Both sets of scores hardly reflect how closely competitive these matches actually were.
Straight off, Stephens’ fast-paced deep balls offset Hampton and squeezed forced errors out of her lower ranked compatriot. Stephens, 20 and seeded No. 17, served effectively to earn her victory. Up 5-3 but down 30-love while serving for the first set, Stephen’s powerful 113 mph average serve came to her rescue for first set win.
New spectators couldn’t tell who had won this set as both players equally held their shoulders back and heads high and bounced lightly on their feet. Hampton, the singles finalist in Eastbourne last week, suddenly started to effectively hit balls on the rise and approach the net, a strategy that inevitably led to her best-ever WTA showing last week. Hampton won her opening second set service game at love, setting a new match tone. She started hitting higher topspin balls to Stephens’ backhand and winning her points rather than looking for unforced errors from her hard-hitting opponent.
That match strategy gave Hampton her first service break and 3-1 second-set lead, but the success was short-lived. Stephens adapted to the aggressive play. She overpowered Hampton on both wings, stretching her from corner to corner as Stephens had done in set one. Stephens claimed five consecutive games, defeating Hampton 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and two minutes on her second match point.
Up next for Stephens is former WTA No. 10 Andrea Petkovic, who commandingly beat France’s Pauline Parmentier in the first round. Petkovic defeated Stephens in their only WTA tour meeting in the Mercury Insurance Open’s quarterfinals two years on a hard court. The other female American winner McHale faces former Wimbledon finalist and No. 15 seed Marion Bartoli. Bartoli has won three of their last four WTA tournament meetings.
Just moments after Stephens took care of business, Vandeweghe evened her match to one set a piece on Court No. 2. The young Californian did footwork drills as Kvitova received lower-body medical treatment. In their opening set, Kvitova won most of her service and net points (both surpassing 75 percent) and dropped only one game. Rhythm loss and faulty footwork led to the No. 8-seeded Czech’s whopping 20 unforced errors that gave the No. 108-ranked Vandeweghe the second set.
The final set’s beginning was evenly suspenseful. Vandeweghe finally held serve in game one after multiple attempts in what was one of the matches’ longest games. Points in opening games were short as both players forced errors through deep ground strokes and huge serves. But Kvitova committed fewer forehand errors and more winners, giving her the set’s first service break and a 3-2 lead. Unreadable lefty serves and one lucky net court winner earned Kvitova another game, putting increased pressure on her younger opponent to stay alive.
Toward the end of the match, Vandeweghe made some unforced errors at crucial times and eventually presented Kvitova with two break and match points. Vandeweghe seemingly proved otherwise. The American then confidently held serve and fended off those match points. But the Czech proved too strong, holding at love and winning 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Liz Kobak is a 2010 graduate of Columbia University and Northwestern University journalism master’s recipient. She is a former WTA ranked pro, #1 ranked United States junior tennis player who rates her 6-4, 6-1 win on Italian clay over Sara Errani as her best victory.
