The seed no.2 and no.3 advance to the second round of the Olympic Games with mixed results.
MURRAY – WAWRINKA 6-3 6-3
This was in theory a tricky match for the Scott in his come back after the defeat in this year Wimbledon final. Talking about the Olympics, Andy does not have good memories as he crashed out in the first round of the 2008 Games in Beijing. Today it was a different story. It took 1h and 28 minutes for him to defeat Wawrinka with all the support of the public.
“I was disappointed with the way I played in Beijing. I didn’t understand what the Olympics meant to me,” he said. “I know how much that loss hurt me and I wanted to come here as well prepared as I could be. Today was a good start.”
“After the final,” he said, “it was different to what I’d experienced before – the support from friends, family, just people I bump into in the street, politicians, celebrities. It was overwhelming. I’m not used to that. I understand that some times in the past it wasn’t always that easy to get behind me because on the court I didn’t look particularly happy. But I think during Wimbledon, and the build-up, I felt different on court. I felt like I’d grown up a bit. I felt more mature. I felt like my demeanour was better.
“The support I got after the final made a huge difference to me, to my confidence. After that loss, I wanted to get back on the practice court straight away, back in the gym, get myself ready for this tournament.”
In the next round Andy will play Nieminem (6-3 6-1 over Devvarman). Head to head: Murray leads 1-0 – 7-6(5) 6-2 6-3- in the first round of the 2011 US Open)
DJOKOVIC – FOGNINI 6-7 6-2 6-2
Nole was another Federer’s casualty during the last Wimbledon where he lost in the semifinal. The Serbian had a false start in this match losing a curious opening set. In fact, he couldn’t run away from Fognini to find himself in 7 all in the tiebreak when it started to rain. When the duo was back… one and two and Fognini won the tiebreak. Then Nole went back to his usual tennis to breeze past the Italian in the next 2 sets (6-2 6-2).
“I haven’t played an official match since Wimbledon so it took me a set-and-a-half to really get into the rhythm,” Djokovic said. “Obviously the rain delay affected the match. I wasn’t sharp enough after that. This is a specific surface, everything happens very fast and I didn’t start off well after that delay.
“He made some great winners and he was a set up. Then I had to be really focused for each game and the second and third went my way.”
Nole will likely play 2 times Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick in the 2nd round (if the America defeats Klizan). Head to head is 5-3 for Roddick. Nole should be the favorite, but an upset is quite possible.
