| Nadal, Sharapova ease into next round |
| DATA： 2008-06-26 |
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| Spain¡’s Rafael Nadal waves to the crowd following his match against Germany’s Andreas Beck at Wimbledon on Tuesday.SD-Agencies |
Defending champion Venus Williams scraped through a tight first set and then pulled away for a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over British teenager Naomi Cavaday to begin her bid for a fifth Wimbledon title.
It took a while for the seventh-seeded Williams, playing her first grass-court match of the season, to find her game and take command against a 19-year-old wild card entry playing only her third career Grand Slam match.
“She played a great match,” said Williams. “She put a lot of pace on the ball, forced a few errors by me. I felt confident throughout the match. I felt good out there. I always feel good on that court.”
Nadal — coming off his fourth straight French Open championship and first grass-court title — got off to a solid start on Centre Court. Runner-up to Roger Federer the past two years, the second-seeded Spaniard beat 122nd-ranked German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (0).
Nadal, who never faced a break point, managed to break Beck just twice out of nine chances. He saved his best for the tiebreaker, ripping a crosscourt forehand winner for 5-0, serving his 17th ace for 6-0 and forcing an error on match point with a backhand drop shot.
“The first match is always very difficult, but I played well in the last tiebreak,” Nadal said. “I was a little bit nervous today. It was tough, but I have very nice memories from the last two years.”