French Open tennis champion Rafael Nadal of Spain has scored a straight
sets victory over Andreas Beck of Germany to move into the second round
of the Wimbledon Championships near London.
The second-seeded
Nadal, who is trying to become the first Spanish men's champion at
Wimbledon, got his campaign off to a strong start with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6
win on Tuesday.
Number six Andy Roddick of the United States
faced a harder than expected match from Eduardo Schwank before
overcoming the Argentine, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6. Eighth-seeded Frenchman
Richard Gasquet ousted American Mardy Fish, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, but American
James Blake, the ninth seed, advanced with a four-set win over
Christophe Rochus of Belgium, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Number 12
Andy Murray kept Britain's solitary hope alive for its first Wimbledon
title since 1936 with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 win over French veteran Fabrice
Santoro. But fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko was a shocking
upset victim, falling to 116th-ranked German Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-4,
6-4.
In the women's draw, third-seeded Russian Maria
Sharapova had little trouble making it to the second round with a 6-1,
6-4 win over Stephanie Foretz of France. Defending champion and
seventh-seed Venus Williams of the United States had to win a
hard-fought tiebreaker before overwhelming left-handed British teenager
Naomi Cavaday, 7-6, 6-1.
Number nine Russian Dinara Safina
eliminated Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan, 7-6, 6-2, and 10th-seeded Slovakian
Daniela Hantuchova downed Sara Errani of Italy, 7-6, 6-4.
Former
champion and 25th-seeded Lindsay Davenport of the United States missed
Wimbledon last year because of the birth of her son. She returned with
a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 Tuesday over Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic.
Other
women's seeds advancing included number 13 Vera Zvonereva of Russia,
16th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, number 20 Francesca Schiavone
and 22nd-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, number 21 Nadia Petrova of
Russia, 24th-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, number 26 Sybille Bammer of
Austria, 31st-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and number 32 Sania
Mirza of India.
In men's matches, 16th-seeded Radek Stepanek
defeated Czech countryman Jan Hernych, 6-3, 7-5, 6-0. Also winning
Tuesday were number 19 Nicolas Almagro and 23 Tommy Robredo of Spain,
24th-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, number 26 Ivan Ljubicic of
Croatia, 27th-seeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and number 28 Frenchman
Gilles Simon.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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