Angelique Kerber has reached the second round of the grass-court classic at Wimbledon in style. The 2018 winner outclassed France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the tournament opener at the start, celebrating a 6-0, 7-5 win over the doubles specialist after just 62 minutes.
For the 34-year-old from Kiel, it was only the fourth set win without losing a game at her 14th Wimbledon appearance. Kerber was only really challenged in the more competitive second set. In the next round, last year’s semi-finalist will meet Magda Linette from Poland and is also favoured.
Jule Niemeier had already advanced to the second round. The 22-year-old from Dortmund beat China’s Xiyu Wang 6:1, 6:4 after only 73 minutes and thus celebrated her first ever victory at a Grand Slam tournament. The world number 97 dominated the match from the start and remained confident even as her opponent’s resistance increased in the second set. Niemeier now faces an extremely difficult task and will meet Estonian number two seed Anett Kontaveit. Last year, Niemeier narrowly missed out on making it to the Wimbledon main draw for the first time.
