Roger Federer loses first set before beating Wimbledon debutant Lloyd Harris; Dominic Thiem becomes third top-10 seed to exit after loss to Sam Querrey
Tuesday 2 July 2019 21:08, UK
Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to ease past world No 274 Yuichi Sugita and set up a second-round grudge match against Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon.
The two-time champion grew in confidence on Court One as he defeated the 30-year-old Japanese qualifier 6-3 6-1 6-3.
Nadal, bidding for his first title at the All England Club since 2010, is the world No 2 but seeded third - behind Roger Federer - because of Wimbledon's seedings formula which takes into account grass-court form.
The Spaniard will now face Kyrgios, who he accused of disrespect earlier this year after losing to him in Acapulco, on Thursday after the Australian battled past compatriot Jordan Thompson 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 7-6 (12-10) 0-6 6-1.
Kyrgios earned a code violation for whacking a ball out of court during an eventful third set and lost a set to love for the first time at a Grand Slam but blew away Thompson in the fifth set.
The world No 43 memorably beat Nadal at Wimbledon as a teenager five years ago, and ever since the draw the match has been highly anticipated after Kyrgios branded Nadal 'super salty' in a recent podcast interview.
Nadal saved three break points to avoid falling a double break down in the first set as he began in unconvincing fashion in his first competitive match of the grass-court season.
From 3-3 in the first set the 33-year-old won nine of the next 10 games to take a two sets to love lead against Sugita in the pair's first meeting.
Nadal broke Sugita in the eighth game of a tighter third set before he served out for victory in just over two hours.
Denis Shapovalov, a prospective third-round opponent for Nadal, was knocked out 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 6-3 by Ricardas Berankis.
Earlier, Eight-time champion Federer recovered from a sluggish start as he lost the first set against unheralded South African debutant Lloyd Harris to progress to the Wimbledon second round.
The 37-year-old had a set taken off him in his first round at Wimbledon for only the second time in 17 years but the second seed soon asserted his authority on Centre Court as he beat the world No 86 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2.
The Swiss, aiming for a 21st Grand Slam title, will face Jay Clarke - the fourth British man to progress to the second round - on Thursday.
Federer, who warmed up for Wimbledon by winning his 10th Halle Open title, was broken by Harris in the sixth game of the first set as the 22-year-old sealed the first set in 29 minutes to leave the crowd stunned.
The world No 3 eventually converted his fourth break point of the match to check Harris' momentum before breaking for a second time in the second set to regain parity.
Federer, bidding to become the second player in history to win nine Wimbledon titles, accelerated through the encounter, breaking twice in the third and fourth sets as Harris required treatment for a calf injury.
Dominic Thiem became the latest seed to suffer a first-round exit as the two-time French Open finalist was beaten by American Sam Querrey.
The 2017 semi-finalist won the last nine games to upset the fifth seed 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-0 as Thiem became the third top-10 player to depart in the first round, following defeats for Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday.
Eighth seed Kei Nishikori had no such difficulty as he defeated Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in two hours and 10 minutes.
The 2014 US Open finalist, who struck 36 winners and is now within two victories of 400 match wins, will next face British No 2 Cameron Norrie.
Meanwhile, Bernard Tomic faced questions about his effort levels after losing the shortest men's singles match at Wimbledon for 15 years.
The Australian lasted only 58 minutes against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, losing 6-2 6-1 6-4.
Tomic was fined more than £11,000 in 2017 and dumped by his racket sponsor after saying in a press conference following a first-round loss to Mischa Zverev that he had felt bored during the match and had called the trainer when he was not injured.
After declining to answer several questions about his effort levels this time, putting his head in his hands at one point, Tomic said: "I think I played as best as I could. It's just I played terrible.
"I played well last week. This week, tough first round. I knew if I didn't feel good, I'd lose this match quickly. We played so fast. It's not like we're going to have a lot of rallies out there."
