Thursday, June 28, 2012
Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England
Count ‘em: 7 seconds.
That’s how long French Open runner-up Sara Errani “played” at Wimbledon on Wednesday against qualifier CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. — enough time to wrap up a 6-1, 6-3 victory in the first round.
How’s that possible? Because action was suspended by rain a night earlier, with the 10th-seeded Errani at match point as the 132nd-ranked Vandeweghe served.
When they resumed, after the customary several-minute warmup ritual of baseline strokes, volleys, overheads and serves, Vandeweghe tossed up a ball and hit it into the net. Moments later, she hit her second serve into the net, too, to complete the double-fault that ended the match, right then and there — leaving both women smiling and spectators guffawing. Errani joined in the laughter as she packed away her racket bag, and kept right on giggling during her news conference.
Asked by an Italian reporter to recount what happened, Errani said: “There’s not much to tell.”
Asked by another whether she’d bothered to take a shower, Errani assured him she planned to later.
“I had talked to my coach to plan what I wanted to do in the match,” Errani said, “but there was no need.”
All in all, it was exactly the sort of unusual happening that Day 3 kept producing in what’s shaping up as a wet and wild week at the All England Club. Another: Prince Charles visited his nation’s most famous tennis club, something he hadn’t done in 42 years.
Four of the top 13 seeded women were sent packing Wednesday, including 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur, 2011 French Open champion Li Na, and former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki.
The fifth-seeded Stosur’s 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 loss to 72nd-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands means Australia will have zero men or women in the third round for the first time since 1939.
Before the rain came, Prince Charles watched six-time champion Roger Federer stumble once and awkwardly tweak his left knee but otherwise easily reach the third round by beating 68th-ranked Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.
“I’m fine. No pain, which is good,” Federer said. “I’m happy it was only basically a bruise to the ground, and not anything in the knee itself.”