Wimbledon PIX: Serena retires; Federer survives while Zverev, Barty through to second round

Images from Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Tuesday

Federer survives big scare as Mannarino retires injured

Eight-times champion Roger Federer survived a massive scare against Adrian Mannarino before advancing to the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday when the Frenchman retired with a knee injury after slipping on court.

The match was poised at 6-4 6-7(3) 3-6 6-2 with Federer forcing a fifth set before Mannarino, celebrating his 33rd birthday, decided he could not continue.

"It's awful," Federer said in his on-court interview.

"It shows that one shot can change the outcome of a match, a season, a career. I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers quickly so we see him back on the courts.

"He could have won the match at the end. Obviously, he was the better player, so I definitely got a bit lucky."

Federer, seeded sixth, was serving with a 4-2 lead in the fourth set when the 41st-ranked Mannarino slipped while attempting a return and twisted his right knee.

The Frenchman received medical attention on Centre Court and limped back to complete the set before shaking hands with Federer, who now has a 7-0 head-to-head record against him.

"You don't get many walkovers throughout a career and you try also not to have it happen to yourself," Federer added.

"It's a reminder how quickly it goes. But of course, I’m obviously happy I can get another chance for another match here.

"I worked very hard and at the end I enjoyed myself out here today. It was great fun until the end, obviously."

The 20-times Grand Slam winner came into Tuesday's match having lost just one set in his six previous meetings against the left-hander, including three on the manicured grass at Wimbledon.

Federer started off on the wrong foot, trailing 0-40 in the opening game but managed to hold serve and soon found his groove and his nimble footwork to put Mannarino under constant pressure.

It was not until his sixth break point opportunity in the opening set that the Swiss finally managed to convert and he did it in style with a breathtaking backhand crosscourt pass.

The second set went on serve before Federer completely lost control over his forehand in the tiebreaker and four consecutive errors helped Mannarino level the match.

Federer knows the All England Club like the back of his hand but the rust from having playing only eight matches this year and missing most of 2020 after two knee surgeries started showing in his game.

After an early exchange of breaks, Mannarino got a second break in the third set as Federer started finding it difficult to land his first serves and his errors mounted.

As the Centre Court crowd started facing the prospect of Federer exiting Wimbledon in the opening round for the first time since 2002, the 20-times major champion responded by raising his game.

After saving a break point to hold his serve in the opening game of the fourth set, Federer quickly jumped out a 3-0 lead and looked the dominant player and on course to force a deciding set before his opponent's injury.

Federer, at 39 the oldest man in the singles draw, will meet either Frenchman Richard Gasquet or Yuichi Sugita of Japan for a place in the third round.

Tearful Serena retires from Wimbledon after first-round injury

Tennis great Serena Williams limped out of Wimbledon in tears on Tuesday after an ankle injury forced her retirement early in a first-round match against unseeded Belarussian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

The American sixth seed, a seven-times champion bidding for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles crown, was clearly in pain early in the first set on a slippery Centre Court and limped off for treatment while 3-2 ahead.

Williams returned after a lengthy break but the distress was evident as she grimaced and wiped away tears before preparing to serve at 3-3 after Sasnovich had levelled.

The 39-year-old, who had been 3-1 up before the injury, sank to the grass sobbing, before being helped off the court.

"Brutal for @serenawilliams but centre court is extremely slippy out there. Not easy to move out there," Britain's Andy Murray said on Twitter.

Sasnovich, who practised her serve while Williams was getting treatment, commiserated with an opponent who had never gone out in the first round at Wimbledon in her previous 19 visits.

"I'm so sad for Serena, she's a great champion," said the world number 100.

"It happens sometimes."

Eight-times men's singles champion Roger Federer expressed shock at Williams's departure and voiced concern about the surface, with the roof closed on Centre Court on a rainy afternoon.

His first-round opponent Adrian Mannarino of France also retired with a knee injury after a slip.

"I do feel it feels a tad more slippery maybe under the roof. I don't know if it's just a gut feeling. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down," Federer said.

"I feel for a lot of players, it's super key to get through those first two rounds because the grass is more slippery, it is more soft. As the tournament progresses, usually it gets harder and easier to move on."

Zverev eases past qualifier Griekspoor

Fourth seed Alexander Zverev served strongly to overpower Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday and advance to the second round of Wimbledon.

The US Open finalist had lost to qualifiers on his last two visits to the grasscourt Grand Slam but the 124th-ranked Griekspoor, making his Wimbledon main draw debut, did not have the game to challenge the tall German in their first meeting.

Zverev hit 20 aces, kept his unforced errors low and broke Griekspoor's serve six times before sealing the match with a backhand winner down the line.

He will play American Tennys Sandgren or Norbert Gombos of Slovakia for a place in the third round.

Medvedev warms to task with opening win over Struff

A few days after claiming his first grasscourt title in blazing Mallorcan sunshine, second seed Daniil Medvedev could easily have been caught cold in his Wimbledon first-round match on Tuesday.

But on a chilly and damp evening at the All England Club he showed he is not just a fair weather player on the lawns to overcome German powerhouse Jan-Lennard Struff.

Medvedev's title run on the Mediterranean holiday island marked the Russian out as a serious Wimbledon challenger.

Struff was hardly the easiest of draws, having beaten Medvedev on grass in Halle this month, but the world number two avenged that loss with a 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 victory.

He was spared the worst of the day's rainy weather by the Court One roof and when he cruised through the opening two sets it looked as though he was in for a short shift.

But the 31-year-old Struff is made of sterner stuff and hit back to take the third set.

There was little between the players in the fourth set but Medvedev avoided being dragged into a decider with a rock-solid tiebreak to move into the second round.

"I was surprised I won the first two sets so easy but then he started showing some unbelievable tennis," Medvedev said on court.

"Until the last point it was not over. It was a rollercoaster of a match."

Barty turns on style in opening win over Suarez Navarro

Women's top seed Ash Barty cleared a tricky opening Wimbledon hurdle as she beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-1 on Tuesday in a first-round match tailor-made for tennis purists.

The Australian, sporting a 1970s-inspired outfit paying homage to compatriot Evonne Goolagong's trailblazing first Wimbledon title 50 years ago, played beautifully for two sets in her first grasscourt match for two years.

But Spaniard Suarez Navarro, who in April announced she had been given the all-clear following treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer, played a full part in an absorbing spectacle under the Centre Court's sliding roof.

Wimbledon king Roger Federer was scheduled next and the game's ultimate stylist would have approved of the eye-catching rallies constructed by Barty and her spirited opponent.

Barty used her all-court game, full of all manner of spins and angles, to great effect as she started and finished the match in dominant fashion.

But Suarez Navarro provided flashes of her signature single-handed backhand to help her push Barty to a deciding set after the Australian wavered when serving for the match at 5-4.

Suarez Navarro's lack of matches -- her French Open first-round defeat was her only other appearance this year -- caught up with her in the end as Barty raced away to victory.

But the former world number six, who will end her career at the Tokyo Olympics, received a standing ovation as she departed the Centre Court for the last time with Barty leading the applause for the popular 32-year-old Spaniard.

"She's a fighter, a great competitor and she will be sorely missed," Barty, who showed no sign of the hip injury that forced her to retire hurt at the French Open, said on court.

The opening match on day two of the Championships is traditionally reserved for the defending champion but with Simona Halep out injured, Barty was given the honour.

She did not disappoint as she began her quest to emulate Goolagong, who like herself has indigenous Australian heritage.

Kerber overcomes slow start to down Wimbledon debutant Stojanovic

Former world number one Angelique Kerber made a wobbly start against Wimbledon debutant Nina Stojanovic on Tuesday before finding her groove to seal a 6-4, 6-3 victory and reach the second round.

Kerber, one of five former champions in the draw, came into Wimbledon full of confidence following her first title triumph in three years at the inaugural Bad Homburg grasscourt event last week.

The German left-hander made a slew of errors at the start of her first career meeting with Stojanovic, however, trailing 3-0 before switching gears to surge ahead of the 24-year-old and bag the opening set under the roof on Court One.

Serbian Stojanovic, who had troubled Kerber with her huge serve and variety of strokes, struggled to find her range and was left with a mountain to climb as the 2018 winner broke early in the second set to race 3-1 ahead.

Serving with authority at key moments, Kerber fended off a late comeback attempt by her unseeded rival to complete the win on her fourth match point when Stojanovic sent a return long.

Up next for 2016 runner-up Kerber is unseeded Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo or Croatian qualifier Ana Konjuh.

Wildcard Venus through to second round at her 23rd Wimbledon

Five-time champion Venus Williams, playing as a wildcard in her 23rd Wimbledon, showed vintage form to beat Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 and reach the second round.

The oldest woman in the draw at 41, Williams had not won a match since reaching the second round at the Australian Open in February but showed she was far from finished on her return to a favourite place.

The Court Three clash of veterans, one of several held over due to rain on Monday, was the 271st victory of a remarkable Grand Slam career for Williams and, despite serving 10 aces, did not come easy.

The American had powered to a 5-1 lead in the final set but then wobbled as Buzarnescu, 33, saved a match point and came back to 5-3.

The Romanian failed to convert three break points in the final game, but saved another match point, before Williams made sure of victory at the third attempt.

Williams' next opponent will be Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who beat Sweden's Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 6-1.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova began her quest for a maiden Grand Slam title with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek. The Czech eighth seed was joined in the second round by Ons Jabeur, who beat Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 6-1.

Greece's Maria Sakkari, returning to action for the first time since her French Open semi-final defeat, powered past Aranxta Rus of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-1 in 49 minutes.