Wimbledon Day 1 Recap: Djokovic, Federer, Venus, Keys Advance

World No. 1 seed and defending Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic opened his title defense in London on Monday with a 6–0, 3–0 lead against No. 177 Brit James Ward.

Wimbledon Day 1 Recap: Djokovic, Federer, Venus, Keys Advance

After the Londoner fought back, pushing Djokovic to save three break points for a 6-5 lead in the second set, Ward forced a second set tiebreak, but Djokovic ultimately prevailed, winning 6–0, 7–6(3), 6–4 to advance to the second round. He will next face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two American women, No. 8-seed Venus Williams and No. 9-seed Madison Keys also made it past the first round on Monday. Five-time Wimbledon champion Williams faced off against Croatian Donna Vekić, who turned 20 on Tuesday. Vekic held a break lead in bot sets and served for the first. However, Williams prevailed, thus earning her 77th career victory in London with a 7–6(3), 6–4 win.

She’ll next face 20-year-old Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, who beat 22-year-old Chinese Saisai Zheng 6–3, 6–2 on Monday.

A new addition to the Top 10, Keys started strong against German Laura Siegemund to win 6–3, 6–1 in 63 minutes. She next plays Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, who defeated American Nicole Gibbs 6­–3, 6­–1.

No. 223 Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova pulled off the biggest upset of the day, knocking out No. 23-seed Serbian Ana Ivanovic in straight sets in the opening round. After she was the last to enter the main draw, beating British 19-year-old Harriet Dart in final round of qualifying, Alexandrova finished off Ivanovic 6–2, 7–5.

Ivanovic, a former World No. 1, has not made it past the third round at a Grand Slam since the 2015 French Open and she hasn’t won a WTA title since Auckland in 2014.

Alexandrova will next play German Anna-Lena Friedsam. 

After the match, Ivanovic explained that she had been struggling with a wrist injury and even considered withdrawing from Wimbledon while playing in Mallorca last week.

“Since two weeks I struggle with my right wrist. It was very hard to accelerate on my forehand. I tried to do everything possible to be fit and recover and tape it and so on,” she said. “I think I’m going to take some time off.  My next tournament would be Olympics. So hopefully that will give it enough time to settle down. Hope to do some MRI and see what’s going on.”

Finally, No. 772-ranked Englishman Marcus Willis– a 25-year-old who still lives at home with his parents and almost quit tennis earlier in the year– proved to be the cinderella story by advancing to the second round after beating 26-year-old Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

PHOTO: PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 05: Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a forehand during the Men’s Singles final match against Andy Murray of Great Britain on day fifteen of the 2016 French Open at Roland Garros on June 5, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)