(MENAFN- Gulf Times)
Germany’s Dustin Brown celebrates after defeating Spain’s Rafael Nadal yesterday. Right: Rafael Nadal reacts during his match against qualifier Brown.
Agencies/Wimbledon
Two-times champion Rafa Nadal crashed out in the second round of Wimbledon yesterday after being out-muscled and out-thought in four sets by an inspired Dustin Brown of Germany.
The Spaniard who has slipped down the sport’s pecking order and was seeded 10 after a year of injury and below-par performances fell 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-4 as Brown ranked 102 in the world unleashed a barrage of thunderous serves and ground strokes mixed with clever drop shots.
Brown who had beaten Nadal in the pair’s only other meeting looked to rush the Spaniard from the start blasting winners at every opportunity and squeezing Nadal at the net to cut off his options in an unorthodox style that had the Wimbledon crowd in raptures.
Qualifier Brown who sealed victory with a thumping ace heads into the third round at Wimbledon for the second time equalling his best Grand Slam performance.
Since finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the 2011 final Spanish former world number one Nadal has now failed to advance past the last 16 of the grasscourt major as he lost to a qualifier for the first time in any grand slam.
Murray sails through
Former champion Andy Murray swept into the Wimbledon third round yesterday.
Third seed Murray the 2013 champion was equally dominant taking just one minute longer than Federer to reach the third round by seeing off Robin Haase the world number 78 from the Netherlands 6-1 6-1 6-4.
The Briton smashed 25 winners past Haase and goes on to face either experienced Italian Andreas Seppi or highly-rated 18-year-old Croatian Borna Coric.
“I started quickly and Robin was a little bit slower at the beginning and then he started to come back in it he played better tennis” said Murray after his fourth win in five matches against his fellow 28-year-old.
Murray caused some amusement when he threw his wristband into the crowd where it hit the head of All England Club chairman Phillip Brook who then handed it as a gift to Prince Charles’ wife Camilla who was sitting next to him. “Normally you see who catches it. Then the Duchess opened up her bag and my wristband was in there so he obviously had given it to her” said Murray.
KVITOVA UNTROUBLED
Women’s defending champion Petra Kvitova reached the third round with a 6-2 6-0 win over Japan’s Kurumi Nara in a Court One little-and-large tussle.
Second seed Kvitova will face either Serbian 26th seed Jelena Jankovic or Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina for a place in the last 16. The Czech fired 10 aces and 23 winners in her 58-minute win over the world number 57.
In the first round she dropped just one game against Kiki Bertens winning in 35 minutes.
“It was a good match from my side” said 1.82-metre (six feet) tall Kvitova who towered over the 1.55-metre (five feet one inch) tall Nara the smallest player in the world top 100.
German 10th seed Angelique Kerber was also a winner seeing off Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-2 while 2012 runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska the Polish 13th seed defeated Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-0 6-2.
However the women’s draw opened up even further when Russian eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova a quarter-finalist in 2014 went down 6-2 7-5 to unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia. Before this tournament the world number 65 Rybarikova had never won a match at Wimbledon in seven years of trying.
Makarova joined third seed Simona Halep seventh seed Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro seeded nine in failing to get beyond the second round.
Rybarikova goes on to face Belarus qualifier Olga Govortsova who put out French 25th seed Alize Cornet 7-6 (8/6) 2-6 6-1. Cornet knocked Serena Williams out of Wimbledon last year.
German 18th seed Sabine Lisicki the 2013 runner-up fought back to defeat Christina McHale of the United States 2-6 7-5 6-1.
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