On Monday, July 1, Wimbledon began in London (United Kingdom). Six Russian tennis players entered the men’s singles draw of the Major on grass and 11 of our compatriots entered the women’s singles draw. Read about who approached the London Grand Slam tournament, in what mood and about the draw results in separate materials.
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Earlier on the first day of the tournament, Daniil Medvedev, Daria Kasatkina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advanced to the second round. And two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka withdrew due to a shoulder injury. In her place in the group was Erika Andreeva, a lucky loser.
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Pavel Kotov, ranked 53rd in the ATP rankings, played a match with Australian Jordan Thompson, ranked 40th in the world. Earlier this year, Kotov defeated Thompson at the Madrid Masters 5:7, 6:4, 7:5. Today, the Russian was defeated in a marathon match: the rivals did not meet the deadline within four hours.
In the first set everything was decided in game 12, in which Kotov reached a break point for the first time and converted it immediately (7:5 in 51 minutes). Incredibly, Thompson held his previous five service games to zero! In total, the Australian made 17 of 18 moves with the first serve, but faltered at the decisive moment. The Russian played four break points in his six games.
The second game ended the same as the first. Pavel won again 7-5 and it took 50 minutes. And again everything was decided with a break in the twelfth game. Kotov took advantage of the first opportunity to take someone else’s serve, despite the fact that none of the tennis players had even a hint of break points before.
Pavel Kotov in a match with Jordan Thompson at Wimbledon 2024
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Unfortunately, Kotov was unable to put the finishing touches on his opponent. In the third set, Thompson held his serve flawlessly and improved on his return. In the first game, Jordan missed a double break point, in the seventh he took the opponent’s serve for the first time in the match, and in the tenth he served for the set: 6:4 in 47 minutes.
The fourth set also went to the Australian. Already in the third game she took the other’s serve, taking advantage of the fourth break point, and in her own games she did not give the Russian any chance. In the tenth game, Thompson served to love, won the game 6:4 in 56 minutes and sent the game to the fifth set.
Jordan Thompson in a match with Pavel Kotov at Wimbledon 2024
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
The fate of the decisive game was actually decided in the first half, when Kotov, having won the serve in the first game, dropped four games in a row. He immediately returned a break, bringing Thompson’s serve to zero, but could not win the rally again. In the tenth game, Jordan took advantage of the second match point and won a super-voluntary victory: 5:7, 5:7, 6:4, 6:4, 6:4 in 4 hours and 10 minutes. According to the key indicators, the Australian turned out to be at least slightly better than the Russian: aces – 13 against 11, double faults – three against four, winners – 64 against 50, unforced errors – 46 against 49.
Diana Schneider, 20, ranked 30th in the WTA rankings, battled former number one and now world number 46 Karolina Pliskova. This was their first head-to-head meeting. Schneider had a great final week of June, winning the title in Bad Homburg.
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In the first set, Pliskova quickly reminded herself that she was capable of going far at Wimbledon, despite the lack of seeding privileges. The Czech, who reached the final in London in 2021, already in the third game made a break that Schneider could not recover. The Russian, however, had a great chance to do so in the sixth game, but missed all three break points. In the tenth game, Carolina calmly served to win the match: 6:4 in 40 minutes. The tennis players’ first serve did not always go well (Diana’s was 52%, Pliskova’s was even worse, only 49%), but Pliskova’s aces were three times higher than Schneider’s: six to two.
In the second game, Caroline’s initial break failed; In the first game, Diana saved a break point. In the fifth game, Schneider unexpectedly lost serve at 30-0, making a series of errors, but quickly corrected himself by making a reverse break for 3-3.
The second half of the match was better for the Russian, who recovered from three break points. There was a slippery moment in the ninth game, when at 4:4, 15:30 Diana was initially double faulted. However, Schneider helped Hawk-eye. In this game, Pliskova still had a hidden match point, but Schneider returned it with an ace. In the tenth game, the Russian got a triple set point in the reception thanks to the Czech’s errors, but she failed, but on the fourth attempt she equalized the score in the games: 6:4 in 43 minutes. In this set, Diana did not have a single double fault and only five unforced ones, while Carolina had four (including set point) and 11, respectively.
At the beginning of the third set, both tennis players had problems on serve and reached 2-2 with one break each; At the same time, Pliskova also escaped a triple break point in the second game. In the ninth game, Schneider got into a difficult situation, but fought back from 0:40. In the tenth game, which lasted about 10 minutes, the Russian could have ended the match in her favor, but it didn’t work. The Czech recovered the first match point thanks to her serve, but in the second she waited for an error from her rival. And with some game balls Carolina equalized the score 5:5.
Despite the offensive failure, Diana did not break down. She confidently defended her serve in the eleventh game, and in the 12th, with 30:30, she waited for Pliskova’s inaccuracies and won a decisive victory: 4: 6, 6: 4, 7: 5 in 2 hours 24 minutes. .
Schneider will play either 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens or Elsa Jacquemot in the second round. The 21-year-old Frenchwoman entered the net at the last moment, all because Victoria Azarenka, another Australian Open champion from Belarus, withdrew from Wimbledon. Azarenka, like Sabalenka, will miss Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury.
Wimbledon will end on July 14. The men’s singles title is defended by three-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, and the women’s singles title is defended by Marketa Vondrousova. Follow all the events of the London major on the “Championship”.
