Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev saw the German EM exit a few miles away, at least with a good Wimbledon feeling. In the end, both of them completed their first compulsory tennis tasks confidently on Tuesday, were spared the next rain chaos and were then able to watch football on television.
Jan-Lennard Struff, on the other hand, missed the 2-0 win at Wembley and is also likely to have been annoyed by his own end against Russian co-favorites Daniil Medvedev. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Daniel Masur and Mona Barthel also lost, Andrea Petkovic, on the other hand, made progress, as did Oscar Otte. The reward for Otte’s razor-thin success with 13:12 in the tie-break of the fifth set against the French Arthur Rinderknech is now a duel with the British darling and two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray.
On the other hand, the tournament ended after veteran Serena Williams suffered an injury, while the 39-year-old Roger Federer benefited from a task.
“You still have ten minutes”
Because their matches were scheduled for first place, which was equipped with a roof, Zverev and Kerber were able to move into the second round of the Grand Slam classic relatively easily. After their respective entry into the second round of the lawn classic, both were in a hurry because of the football crash between England and Germany.
“You still have ten minutes, then I have to go,” joked Zverev when asked about the European Championship round of 16, which he wanted to watch in a larger group. With the 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 1 against the Dutch qualifiers Tallon Griekspoor, the Hamburger had done his first game as quickly as possible. Kerber had her 6: 4, 6: 3 against the Serbian Nina Stojanovic only shortly before the kick-off.
With force: Alexander Zverev at his start in Wimbledon
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Image: EPA
“All German boys come to me – except Struffi, he has to play,” revealed Zverev and moodily declared that he was hoping for a penalty shoot-out. Struff was later on against Medvedev and could not repeat his latest success from Halle in the 4: 6, 1: 6, 6: 4, 6: 7 (3: 7) against the number two Russian.
Above all, Zverev shone with his serve and was never in danger. A brief rain break didn’t bring him out of step either. Kerber had taken first place immediately after him, but, unlike the sixth in the world rankings, got off to a poor start. The former number one in the world was 3-0 down against Stojanovic. Memories of their first round bankruptcies in the past three Grand Slam tournaments only came up briefly. After she had secured her first game win with a net scooter, the Kiel woman got better into her first round game. “It was a bit of a shaky game at the beginning,” said Kerber.
Early out: Mona Barthel loses her opening match.
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Build: AP
She left out three match balls in a row at 5: 3 in the second set. She used the fourth. “I was a bit nervous about the last few points. I think it was a solid first lap, ”said the 33-year-old. On Saturday the world number 28. won the first title in Bad Homburg since her Wimbledon triumph three years ago and thus gained a lot of self-confidence.
In the women’s category, Andrea Petkovic progressed 6: 4, 6: 3 against the Italian Jasmine Paolini and now meets French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic. “As at 17, still at 33: I go to every match and want to win. Of course she’s the favorite, I’m curious to see how she plays on a faster surface, ”said Petkovic. Former Kohlschreiber was annoyed about his end in five sentences against the world number 12 Denis Shapovalov from Canada. “Of course I’m already disappointed and pissed off because I just believe that I could win today,” said the 37-year-old.
On the second day of the tournament, the rain again caused breaks and cancellations, but the greatest excitement was around Serena Williams. After Federer’s French opponent Adrian Mannarino had to pass before the fifth set, the 39-year-old American sank in pain in the first set against Alexandra Sasnowitsch from Belarus in the first set.
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