Russian Nikolay Davydenko suffered his fifth first-round defeat in seven appearances at Wimbledon when he suffered three straight 6-4 sets to Germany’s Benjamin Becker on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Reuters file Photo)
Russian Nikolay Davydenko suffered his fifth first-round defeat in seven appearances at Wimbledon when he suffered three straight 6-4 sets to Germany’s Benjamin Becker on Tuesday.
“He played good and I played really bad,” said the fourth seed of his 116th-ranked opponent.
It was a limp performance for the 27-year-old who has a record of at least reaching the quarterfinals of other three Grand Slams.
“I was too slow. On soft grass you need to be much faster and play faster,” said Davydenko who joined Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian, who lost on Monday, as a top 10 player on the sidelines.
However, French Open champion Rafael Nadal recorded his 18th successive win to dispose German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4 and 7-6 (7-0).
Second seed Nadal, fresh from his fourth successive French Opentitle, is bidding to become the first Spanish men’s champion since 1966 as well as the first Roland Garros-Wimbledon back-to-back winner since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
“My opponent was another leftie and his second serve was difficult to read. He served to the body and that was hard for me,” said Nadal.
“It was a strange match. There weren’t many points from the baseline.”
Nadal, who lost the last two Wimbledon finals against Roger Federer, will face Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis, a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, for a place in the last 32.
Andy Roddick, seeded sixth, relied on his grass court skills to overcome Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 7-5, 6-4 and 7-6 (7-0).
Roddick, the runner-up to Roger Federer in 2004 and 2005, said “I actually hit the ball probably better than the score indicates. It seemed like every game I was 30-love on his serve and kind of cruising on mine. I actually felt all right.”
Joining in the next round was British 12th seed Andy Murray who put out veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) and American ninth seed James Blake who saw off Christophe Rochus of Belgium 3-6, 6-3, 6-1,6-4.
Swedish 36-year-old Jonas Bjorkman, a semi-finalist in 2006, saw his 15th and last Wimbledon end in a four-set defeat at the hands of France’s Arnaud Clement.
Murray wasn’t the only British man reaching the second round as 20-year-old qualifier Chris Eaton, the world 661, beat Serbia’s Boris Pashanski, ranked more than 450 places higher, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 to mark his Grand Slam debut in style.