I will start with the most interesting match of the second day, and that is the first round match between No. 23 seed Venus Williams and unseeded Russian teenager Alla Kudryavtseva.
World No.59 Alla Kudryavtseva was close to victory, but simply didn’t make use of the numerous opportunities she had. Eventually, she was defeated 2-6 6-3 7-5, leaving the court frustrated and in tears. Still, in this match the young Russian showed that she has a great potential.
Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo easily defeated world No. 158 Jamea Jackson 6-1 6-3. Maybe this is the beginning of Mauresmo’s better results after an unsatisfactory first half of the year?
Second seed Maria Sharapova had a somewhat tougher first round match than we had expected. Still, she beat Yung-Jan Chan from Taipei 6-1 7-5.
Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, still struggles with her long-term shoulder injury:
“The doctors have given me the green light to keep playing, and it’s in my hands to manage the pain.
“Sometimes I don’t have as much confidence in my arm as I do in other matches, but it’s more of a strength issue than anything.”
Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova came back from a set and 4-2 down to finally score a 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Julia Vakulenko.
Nadia Petrova, seeded-eleventh, needed just 45 minutes to beat unseeded American Vania King 6-0 6-1.
No. 10 seed Daniela Hantuchova came into Wimbledon in good form and was too strong for the up-and-coming Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has twice won the Australian junior title and the US equivalent once. Hantuchova advanced to the second round with a convincing 6-1 6-0 victory over the Russian teenager.
“I felt like I was doing everything right today on the court, and tactically I think I played very smart,” Hantuchova said.
“I think, as I’ve been saying the last few weeks, I started to feel really good on grass, and I think I had two very good tournaments (she reached quarterfinals at Birmingham and semis at the Ordina Open), so I was coming in very confident into this one.”
Third seed Jelena Jankovic had no mercy for the British wildcard Anne Keothavong beating her 6-2 6-0. Jankovic definitely benefited from the rainy first day of Wimbledon, because her first round match was postponed for Tuesday and she had more time to rest from her busy schedule and collect energy for the upcoming rounds.
Other first round results of day two:
- No. 19 seed Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) bt Elena Baltacha (GBR) 7-6 3-6 6-2
- Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA) 6-4 7-5
- Bethanie Mattek (USA) bt Vasilisa Bardina (RUS) 6-1 6-0
- Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG) 5-7 6-3 8-6
- No. 27 seed Samantha Stosur (AUS) bt Kristina Brandi (PUR) 4-6 6-2 6-2
- Sania Mirza (IND) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (RUS) 6-0 6-3
- Agnes Szavay (HUN) bt Eva Birnerova (CZE) 6-4 6-1
- Olga Govortsova (BLR) bt Greta Arn (GER) 6-7 7-6 6-1
- Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) bt Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) 6-4 6-2
- Alize Cornet (FRA) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 6-4 6-4
- No. 31 seed Michaella Krajicek (NED) bt Tzipora Obziler (ISR) 6-2 6-7 6-1
- No. 8 seed Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) bt Angelique Kerber (GER) 7-5 6-3
- Jarmila Gajdosova (SVK) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) 6-2 6-4
- Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt No. 30 seed Olga Poutchkova (RUS) 6-1 6-3
- Elena Likhovtseva (RUS) bt Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 3-6 6-1 7-5
- Milagros Sequera (VEN) bt Julia Schruff (GER) 6-3 6-2
- Hana Sromova (CZE) bt Shuai Peng (CHN) 6-4 6-4
- Emilie Loit (FRA) bt Tiantian Sun (CHN) 6-3 6-1
- Nika Ozegovic (CRO) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 6-3 6-2
- Katie O’Brien (GBR) bt Sandra Kloesel (GER) 6-3 7-5
- Ai Sugiyama (JPN) bt Melanie South (GBR) 6-3 6-2
- No. 24 seed Alona Bondarenko (UKR) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 6-1 6-2 (sources: BBC, Wimbledon)
