Of course, no one expected Isner-Mahut to run 5 sets and last 3 days. Both players were probably relieved that there wouldn’t be a marathon match. They played on a different court (Court 1) with a different umpire (Lars Graff instead of Mohamed Lahyani) and a different outcome.
Isner was favored, although his ranking had gone down some and he entered unseeded, while Mahut had worked his rank up so he didn’t have to qualify. This might mean that Mahut would have a better chance. Isner’s coach had accompanied him last year, but this year, he chose to stay home.
After Isner won the first set tiebreak, he won the second set easily which was a change from last year when Mahut won sets 2 and 3.
Mahut had a break in the third set and had a chance to push it to extra sets. Isner managed to break back and then take it to a tiebreak. Although the tiebreak was close, Isner won that as well.
Ryan Harrison found himself another lucky loser just like the French Open. He played Ivan Dodig and won in straight sets. Novak Djokovic also won easily against a potentially tough opponent in Jeremy Chardy. However, he took sets 2 and 3 losing only one game in each set.
Soderling needed four sets to beat German Philipp Petzschner with a tiebreak in the fourth set. Mikhail Youzhny needed 5 sets to beat Juan Monaco, another tough first round match. In a nice upset, Fernando Gonzalez, who has hardly played in a year, upset Alexandr Dolgopolov in 4 sets. Ricardo Mello of Brazil beat Frank Dancevic of Canada in 5 sets. Oliver Rochus also needed five sets to beat Kenny de Schepper of France. Lleyton Hewitt beat Kei Nishkori in 4 sets. Nicolas Almagro beat Jarkko Nieminen in 4 sets as well. David Nalbandian won in straight sets over Julian Reister of Germany.
Tomorrow, Nadal plays Sweeting, Roddick plays Hanesucu, Murray plays Kamke, and Berdych plays Benneteau. These are all second round matches. Wimbledon tries to get each of the first few rounds played in 2 days each so there is a free Sunday for everyone to rest.
