Laura Robson, Britain's number 1 player, advanced to the second round of Wimbledon today when she defeated 10th seed Maria Kirilenko in straight sets. Robson, who is already the lone Brit left in the draw (my, that was quick) will face Mariana Duque-Marina in the second round. The winner of that match will play either Peng Shuai or Marina Erakovic; Erakovic has an edge on grass courts.
Also winning--and quite handily--today was Tsvetana Pironkova, who won every game in the first set and all but one game in the second, against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Toward the end of the match, Pavlyuchenkova saw a trainer about a foot issue, but really, it didn't matter. Pironkova, who made only two unforced errors, was her usual Wimbledon self, putting on a bit of a clinic for spectators, and making it all look so easy. What can you say? Pironkova at Wimbledon.
Angelique Kerber beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands, which surprised me a bit. Sabine Lisicki advanced, as did Sam Stosur, Li Na, Roberta Vinci, and both Radwanska sisters. Defending champion Serena Williams (I really like her outfit) won in straight sets over Mandy Minella ("Manilla," according to Mary Joe Fernandez on ESPN), but Minella did manage to break her opponent's serve once. 6-1, 6-3 doesn't sound that good, but Minella played a nice second set, and she looked so happy just to be there, playing Serena.
Zheng Jie is out, beaten by Caroline Garcia. Two of the pre-Wimbledon grass champions--Simona Halep and Elena Vesnina--advanced today, but Birmingham champion Daniela Hantuchova fell to Klara Zakopalova.
And finally--Nadia Petrova lost in straight sets to Karolina Pliskova. Petrova, the 13th seed, also went out in the opening round of the French Open. Oh. Nadia.
There's a little club of American sportscasters who mangle the names of non-American players. They all deliver lines with Barry McKay's syntax and rhythm. They also lay out rationalizations, early, during the matches of their faves. Rationalizations that would excuse a loss, were those faves to go down to defeat on that day. Manilla. Pitiful. I'd expect better from Mary Jo, Kris and Lindsay. But no, they are somewhat insular and provincial - yep, they parade it openly.
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