With the first day of main draw play at the 2011 Rogers Cup in the books, nobody could have asked for a more exciting start to the tournament. On the women’s side, four seeds were defeated (three to qualifiers), including world #9 Marion Bartoli, #14 Jelena Jankovic, and #15 Svetlana Kuznetsova, proving that the women’s field is wide open and superstars need to be at their best, even in the early rounds.
Julia Goerges beats Jelena Jankovic. (Image Via Central Image Agency)
Perhaps nobody will realize this more than former world no. 1 Jankovic, who showed signs of rust when she took the court for the first time since Wimbledon against Germany’s Julia Goerges. Jankovic was undefeated in her two previous meetings with Goerges, but yesterday Goerges was on her game as she handed Jankovic an early Rogers Cup exit in a decisive (6-1, 6-3) victory. The 22-year-old, who will play the winner of today’s match between Serena Williams and Alona Bondarenko, is a player to watch as the tournament proceeds.
Over in Montréal, the men’s matches ran on script. Former world no. 4 and 2009 Rogers Cup runner-up Juan Martín del Potro showed his old form by beating Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen (6-4, 6-0). Del Potro is now en route to play Novak Djokovic in the third round, as long as he can get past Croatia’s Marin Cilic (def. A. Seppi 7-5, 6-4).
Two other seeded players joined del Potro in the second round, as world no. 17 Stanislas Wawrinka downed former no. 5 David Nalbandian (6-1, 6-4), while world no. 16, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beat Italy’s Fabio Fognini (6-4,7-6). Tsonga has been very impressive this season after his spectacular performance at Wimbledon where he reached the semi-finals only to lose to Novak Djokovic. Fognini took Tsonga to the wire, but the 26-year-old from France was just too much for him to handle. Tsonga will play his second round match against Austria’s Bernard Tomic.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in his match against Fabio Fognini, takes a FIJI Water break. (Vincenzo D'Alto/THE GAZETTE)
The second round will also include Andy Murray playing qualifier Kevin Anderson, and world no. 1 Djokovic is matched up against Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko.
Top featured image: Fabio Fognini in his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Rogers Cup in Montreal (Vincenzo D’Alto/THE GAZETTE)
Highlights
