After the Federer match, we headed out to watch some tennis on the outside courts. Me and David have entered a fantasy tennis game where you pick ten male and female tennis players to amass points over the tournament. We were keen to follow some of our players so we headed over to court 10 to watch one of David's players, Karol Beck who was into a deciding fifth set against the Argentinian, Carlos Berlocq. The match was made all the more entertaining by some crazy Slovakian supporters who were on their feet cheering every point that Beck won! Some of the British fans were trying to neutralise the support by cheering on Berlocq. The atmosphere was fantastic and it is one of the reasons that makes Wimbledon so special. Beck managed to pull the win through in the fifth set to the delight of his crazy fans (and David!)
The crazy supporters for Beck which made for a fantastic atmosphere
Beck comes through in a tight five setter against Berlocq.
We hung around on court 10 to watch a first round match between Kirsten Flipkens and Peng Shuai, another one of my favourite players! We stood behind Kirsten Flipken's coach and it was not a fun afternoon for him as Flipkens was bagelled in the first set. She really struggled in the windy conditions as her serve faltered and her groundstokes sailed long. Peng dealt with the conditions well and eventually strolled to victory with some solid and precise tennis. I tried not to get too excited behind Flipken's dejected coach and what may have been her parents too!
Peng and Flipkens take to the court
Peng was a comfortable winner yayyyy!
We managed to watch a number of matches on the outside court; most notably we caught a quick glimpse of Stosur through the crowds of people surrounding Court 14 as they witnessed a major shock as she was humbled by Melinda Czink. We saw a grumpy Iveta Benesova lose the first set to the all shrieking, Sandra Zahlavova although she did recover the match in the end. We also watched the 4th set tiebreak between Frank Dancevic and Ricardo Mello in which Dancevic wasted two match points. Dancevic then went onto lose which both David and I were not happy about as he was one of our players! We then headed back to our seats on Centre Court where Novak Djokovic had managed to win in super quick time and was walking off the court victorious!
Stosur was stunned out on Court 14
Dancevic choked his way to defeat
Following the quick matches on Centre Court, we had another match added to our order of play. This was between Maria Sharapova who was many people's tip for the title, and Anna Chakvetadze. From the start, Sharapova looked to have too much power for Chakvetadze who struggled on every one of her service games as Sharapova battered her limp looking second serve. Chakvetadze did well to save numerous break points at 3-1 down in the first set and the pair traded blows in some long crunching rallies; however Maria was too tough for Anna and took the first set 6-2.
Sharapova's serve still looked shaky at times
Sharapova had far too much power for Chakvetadze
Chakvetadze in action
The second set was a pretty scrappy affair with consecutive breaks at the start of the match. Sharapova lost her serve with two consecutive double faults. Her serve let her down in the French Open semi-finals to Li Na and she struggled for consistency in this match too. However Sharapova did ease away with the match from 6-2 1-1 to 6-2 6-1 as she broke the resistance of Chakvetadze who has suffered a number of health problems at the start of this year.
Sharapova was at her grunting powerful best at times
Chakvetadze tried bringing Sharapova into the net with mixed success
Sharapova was victorious 6-2 6-1
Before we left Wimbledon, we caught a glimpse of the match on court 11. This involved two hard-hitting Czech players with enormous serves in Lucie Safarova and Lucie Hradecka. It was a good match and Safarova pulled the win through against a moody Hradecka... you wouldn't want to get in a fight with her! As we decided to leave, we could hear cheers on all the courts but most notably on Court 3 where Isner comfortably saw off Mahut in the repeat of the first round epic. Overall, it was a fantastic day at Wimbledon and one of the best we have had in years. It was so exciting witnessing so much action on the outside courts and we were already excited about returning on Thursday.
Lucie Safarova in the fading sun
Lucie Hradecka signalling that a ball was longgg
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