Wimbledon Lookahead: Venus is into 2nd round for 20th time

June 29, 2021 GMT
Venus Williams of the US serves to Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu during the women's singles first round match on day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday June 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Venus Williams of the US serves to Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu during the women's singles first round match on day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday June 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — LOOKAHEAD TO WEDNESDAY

Venus Williams is into the second round at Wimbledon for the 20th time, and her opponent Wednesday will be No. 21-seeded Ons Jabeur, who lost only three games in her first-round win. The 41-year-old Williams is coming off her first match victory since February in the opening round. Williams’ sister, Serena, retired from her match Tuesday with a leg injury. On the men’s side, top-ranked Novak Djokovic faces Kevin Anderson in the first match on Centre Court. It’s a rematch of the 2018 final, which Djokovic won, and he has taken nine of their 11 meetings. Scotsman Andy Murray, coming off a victory in his first Wimbledon match in four years, faces Oscar Otte of Germany. American Frances Tiafoe, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round, plays Vasek Pospisil. There will be three all-American women’s matchups. Sloane Stephens, who beat two-time champion Petra Kvitova in the first round, will play lucky loser Kristie Ahn; No. 4 Sofia Kenin faces Madison Brengle; and No. 23 Madison Keys takes on Lauren Davis. There’s a heavy backlog in the schedule because of rain during the first two days of play.

WEDNESDAY’S FORECAST

Cloudy. High of 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 Celsius).

TUESDAY’S WEATHER

Cloudy with some rain. High of 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 Celsius).

TUESDAY’S KEY RESULTS

Women’s First Round: No. 1 Ash Barty beat Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-1; Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat No. 6 Serena Williams 3-3, ret.; No. 8 Karolina Pliskova beat Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 6-4; No. 13 Elise Mertens beat Harriet Dart 6-1, 6-3; No. 15 Maria Sakkari Arantxa beat Rus 6-1, 6-1; No. 20 Coco Gauff beat Francesca Jones 7-5, 6-4; Venus Williams beat Mihaela Buzărnescu 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Men’s First Round: Daniil Medvedev (2), Russia, def. Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (3). No. 4 Alexander Zverev beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; No. 6 Roger Federer beat Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-7 (3), 3-6, 6-2, 0-0, ret.; No. 10 Denis Shapovalov beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Sebastian Korda beat No. 15 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5).

STAT OF THE DAY

90 — Venus Williams’ win total at Wimbledon, which includes victories in five finals. She has lost 17 times.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“For me it’s a very good experience. It’s not really bad to lose, you know?” — Zhang Zhizhen, the first man to represent China in the main draw at Wimbledon during the Open era. He lost a five-setter in round one.

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