Wimbledon 2013 Day 1: Nadal crashes out

Two-time champion was well below his best against an inspired Darcis

Wimbledon 2013 Day 1: Nadal crashes out

Men's Singles

Darcis played the match of his life on Court 1

The headline of Wimbledon 2012 week one came from the seismic shock of Rafael Nadal's stunning loss to Lukas Rosol in the second round. 

A year on and Nadal's Wimbledon ended a round earlier as the Spaniard's 22 match winning streak was brought to an abrupt halt by 135th ranked Steve Darcis.

The Belgian played the match of his life against an under par Nadal to come through 7-6(7-4) 7-6(10-8) 6-4. 

This was a Nadal moving tentatively and making many many uncharacteristic errors, sometimes on key points, that you just are not used to seeing.

Nadal was typically gracious in defeat

When Darcis failed to convert on four set points in the second set breaker and the fifth seed moved to set point at 8-7 a turnaround looked possible, nay probable, and yet on this day Nadal just could not do it.

The Belgian reeled off three points to take the set, broke to open the third and maintained the advantage slamming down an ace on his first match point to seal the biggest win of his career.

Perhaps his long run on the clay this spring took more out of him than we thought or perhaps his return was solely built around retaining his Roland Garros crown.

It is foolish to ever write off great champions but I think there is certainly a chance that Rafa may now not win any of the majors outside of France but having said that he'll go and win in New York and Melbourne to prove me wrong.

Meanwhile over on court no.19 Rafa's conqueror of 12 months ago slipped out at the first hurdle as Rosol lost in five sets to Julien Reister.  What a difference a year makes but the tall Czech has made strides in 2013 winning an ATP World Tour title and breaking into the top 35.

Unlike the French Open champion rreigning champion Roger Federer encountered few problems against Romania's Victor Hanescu cruising through 6-3 6-2 6-0 in a repeat of their 2005 Roland Garros quarter final.  The third's seeds draw has suddenly got a whole lot better.

The other major seed in Federer's quarter also bit the dust on day one as Stanislas Wawrinka was defeated by 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-4 7-5 6-3.   The Swiss only showed glimpses of his superb 2013 form and Hewitt's customary dogged determination was as impressive as always.

US Open champion Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both looked good in straight sets wins over Benjamin Becker and David Goffin respectively but 14th seed Janko Tipsarevic was felled by compatriot Victor Troicki on Court No.3.

Women's Singles

2004 Champion Maria Sharapova was severely tested in the first set of her match with Kristina Mladenovic but came through 7-6(7-5) 6-3 and then earned huge respect from me for name checking Steffi Graf as the player she would most like to play and correctly assessing that the legendary German would "chop me up".



For a moment Azarenka's Wimbledon looked over



Sharapova's principal rival in the bottom half of the draw Victoria Azarenka came through a dramatic injury scare - with a slip to the floor - before completing a 6-1 6-2 victory over  Maria Joao Koehler.

2011 champion Petra Kvitova also negotiated an injury before edging past Coco Vandeweghe 6-1 5-7 6-4.  Also through to round two were former World No.1s Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic and 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli.

On her least favourite surface Sara Errani the World No.5 was bundled out 6-3 6-2 by Puerto Rico's Monica Puig but at least she did not suffer a golden set this year.

1999 semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni is defending third round points from last year and made a strong start with a 6-1 6-4 win over Sofia Arvidsson.  The Croat qualified last year and a 2013 qualifer who had cause to celebrate was Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito who battled past Melanie Oudin 7-6(9-7) 1-6 6-4.

Brit Watch

None of the British matches lost matches they were expected to win although James Ward lost a heart-breaker against Yen-Hsun Lu in four gripping sets on court 12.  18 year-old Kyle Edmund played some good tennis but as expected found the fire power of 24th seeded Pole Jerzy Janowicz.

Johanna Konta and Sam Murray played well against Jelena Jankovic and Camila Giorgi. Elena Baltacha fell to former World No.10 Flavia Pennetta in the battle of the injury comebacks but Anne Keothavong had a disappointing 6-4 6-0 scoreline late on Centre Court against Garbine Muguruza.

Day 2 brings hope with Robson and Watson. C'mon Girls!

Follow me on Twitter for all my Wimbledon thoughts: https://twitter.com/TennisCJD