Wimbledon – Men: Del Potro batters Clement
Fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro made a mockery of his supposed lack of grass-court prowess by battering experienced Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-3 6-1 6-2 in the first round of Wimbledon.
The 20-year-old Argentine, elevated to the top of the draw following Rafa Nadal’s withdrawal on Friday, ran last year’s quarter-finalist Clement ragged with a precise mix of angled winners and powerful serving.
Del Potro, who has only won two matches in two previous visits to Wimbledon, put Clement out of his misery when the Frenchman ballooned a forehand long after an hour and 37 minutes on Court One.
The Argentine will face 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who recovered from a 2-4 deficit early in the first set to dismiss American Robby Ginepri 6-4 6-1 6-1 in 91 minutes.
Andy Roddick showed few ill-effects from his ankle injury as he eased past Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3 7-6 4-6 6-3.
Roddick, twice a former finalist here, had been an injury doubt after rolling his ankle and retiring from his semi-final at Queen’s Club last week, but showed no clear sign of pain in a clinical dismantling of the world number 41 on Centre Court.
The American raced into a two-set lead before Chardy pulled one back courtesy of a break in game nine of the third set. The Frenchman struggled with his footing at times in the fourth and Roddick sealed victory when the Chardy netted a forehand.
The number six seed will face Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn, who progressed when Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov retired hurt while trailing 3-6 6-0 4-0.
There was to be no repeat of last year’s dream run to the semi-finals for former world number one Marat Safin. The Russian, who will retire at the end of the year, slumped to a dispiriting 6-2 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 defeat against American qualifier Jesse Levine.
Russian 12th seed Nikolay Daydenko eased past Brit Daniel Evans 6-2 6-3 6-3 to book his place in the second round where he will play Victor Crivoi, after the Romanian battled past Germany’s Bjorn Phau 4-6 6-1 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3.
Alex Bogdanovic was also comprehensively beaten in straight sets, by Czech 20th seed Tomas Berdych, but Josh Goodall provided something for the home crowd to cheer about when he pushed Frenchman Michael Llodra to five sets before losing 4-6 6-7(5) 6-4 3-6 6-4.
Chilean 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez progressed courtesy of a 7-5 7-5 6-3 win over Teimuraz Gabashvili and will next face Leonardo Mayer, who obliterated Oscar Hernandez 6-0 6-0 6-3.
German 24th seed Tommy Haas needed just two games to complete his 6-7(5) 7-6(0) 6-3 6-4 win over Alexander Peya, and will be joined in the second round by seeds Radek Stepanek, Victor Hanescu, Viktor Troicki and David Ferrer who recorded victories over Alejandro Falla, Ivan Navarro , Brian Dabul and Kevin Kim respectively.
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