Wimbledon 2011, Day 3: Venus Williams Survives, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray Advance

Though there will be fewer and fewer matches each successive day at The Championships, Wimbledon 2011, it’s still not hard to learn at least a half-dozen things. Here’s what Wednesday’s Day 3 action taught us:

1. Old ladies can play. The days of women’s tennis youth movement seem to be completely over. Not only has there not been a teenage slam champion since Maria Sharapova won the 2006 US Open, the oldest end of the spectrum keeps playing better and better tennis. The French Open final was contested between twenty-nine year-old Li Na and thirty year-old Francesca Schiavone, and the match of Wimbledon thus far was today’s second round battle between thirty-one year old Venus Williams and FORTY year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm.

2. Young Brits will be able to play. British tennis, however, is still banking on youth. Aside from the obvious contributions of Andy Murray, two young British women are looking more and more like forces to be reckoned with in the long term. Heather Watson, the 2009 US Open Girls’ Singles champion, put up a valiant fight before losing in three sets to Mathilde Johansson, a match she almost certainly would have won if not for an elbow injury. Laura Robson, the 2008 Girls’ Singles champion at Wimbledon, won her first main draw match at a grand slam on Day 3 with a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Angelique Kerber. She next faces No. 5 Maria Sharapova, which should be a good learning experience for her if nothing else. Robson hit a whopping 53 winners in her win over Kerber, so she should be able to win her share of points against Sharapova as well, one would assume.

3. Milos Raonic will not be the breakout star of Wimbledon 2011, which sucks. No. 31 Milos Raonic, a young Canadian one of my ten players to watch in the men’s field, suffered a leg injury early in his second round match against Gilles Muller, and was forced to retire while up a break at 3-2 in the first set. With his powerful serve and hard, flat groundstrokes, Raonic could have very well made a name for himself by beating Rafael Nadal in the third round the two would have contested if Raonic hadn’t been hurt. Raonic could have become tennis’ answer to Rory McIlroy with a win at Wimbledon 2011, but his star turn is now going to have to wait.

4. Juan Martin del Potro doesn’t need shoes (or he has spares). After dropping the first set tiebreak 9-7 to tiny Belgian Olivier Rochus, Juan Martin del Potro took off his enormous shoes and walked to the net, asking for the match to be called due to darkness. When the tournament referee agreed that play should be called, del Potro threw each of his shoes into the stands, throwing one clear over the top of the stadium and hitting an exiting fan in the head with the second.

5. It’s best to be lucky and good. Lucky Loser Simone Bolelli lost in the final round of qualifying, but has not dropped a set since, winning both his first round match against qualifier Martin Fischer and his second round match against No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets. Bolelli’s win made Wawrinka the highest seed thus far to be excused from the Gentlemen’s Singles draw. Two other Lucky Losers made it into the second round as well, with Grega Zemlja losing in four sets against No. 9 Gael Monfils, and American Ryan Harrison still awaiting his second round match against No. 7 David Ferrer. On the women’s side, Canadian Lucky Loser Stephanie Dubois pushed No. 11 Andrea Petkovic to three sets before falling as darkness descended on SW19.

6. We will have a rematch of a Wimbledon 2010 semifinal in the third round of Wimbledon 2011. No. 2 Vera Zvonareva and No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova both won the necessary two matches to set up a rematch of their thrilling semifinal from last year in the third round of this year’s tournament. Pironkova has been the sharper of the two so far in this event, though has faced considerably inferior competition. It should be a good one.

Read through this StoryStream for more results from Day 3 of Wimbledon 2011. Get live scores at the tournament’s official website, and watch matches online for free on ESPN3.

Another solid day for the Andys, as Roddick and Murray both won in straight sets. The two, who met in the semifinals of Wimbledon 2009 (with Roddick winning in four sets), could meet in this year’s quarterfinal round.

No. 4 Andy Murray def. Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. Andy Murray didn’t make things look nearly as effortless as he did in the later stages of his first round win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver, a match in which he won the last 15 consecutive games. But he showed pretty decent sticktoitiveness in the third set, not allowing himself to lapse and give Kamke an opening. Murray has been known to let opponents back into matches many a time, so for him to keep this one to three sets is something he should be rather chuffed about.

No. 8 Andy Roddick def. Victor Hanescu 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. The American Andy registered a textbook Roddick win and as impressive a win as one could hope for. Roddick faced only one break point in the entire match and broke Hanescu’s serve four times. The crowds at Wimbledon, where he is a three-time runner up, seem to embrace Roddick just as much as American crowds do.

Journeyman American Alex Bogomolov, Jr. pulled off only the third grand slam of his career Wednesday at the All-England Club, defeating No. 25 seed Juan Ignacio Chela 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round Gentlemen’s Singles match at Wimbledon 2011.

Bogomolov is already at a career high ATP ranking of No. 72, which could climb as many as ten places based on his strong showing at SW19. He will face defending finalist No. 6 Tomas Berdych in the third round.

Match results from Day 3 of Wimbledon 2011, where intermittent breaks in the rain are actually allowing some occasional tennis games to occur!

No. 1 Rafael Nadal def. Ryan Sweeting, 6-3 6-2 6-4. Hand it to Sweeting for even winning a game in that final set: He’s in the books for a straight-sets loss at this year’s Championships, but to pull within two games of the World No. 1 down two sets to none says something for his gumption. Good on ya, kid.

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands sure is taking her new title of being the “Lady Gaga of Tennis” seriously. After wearing a bright green dress covered in tennis ball pieces to the WTA’s pre-Wimbledon players’ party, Bethanie walked onto court for her first round Ladies’ Singles match at Wimbledon 2011 wearing a jacket adorned with spikes, fringe, and, of course, white tennis balls.

The whole thing looked considerably more ridiculous when she lost.

Match results from Day 3 of Wimbledon 2011, where heavy downpours have delayed much of the morning’s play.

No. 10 Mardy Fish, the highest-ranked (but not highest-seeded) American man in tennis currently, scored an impressive straight sets victory over dangerous Uzbek Denis Istomin, 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4.

Match results from Day 3 of Wimbledon 2011, where heavy downpours have delayed much of the morning’s play.

Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams lost the first set in her second round match against forty-year old Kimiko Date-Krumm, but recovered to advance with a final score of 6-7(6), 6-3, 8-6.

First-round play concludes and second-round play begins Wednesday, Day 3 of Wimbledon 2011 at the All England Club, with tournament action beginning at 7 a.m. EDT. Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, and Mardy Fish will all be featured in televised Championships action, in addition to the multiple makeup matches postponed due to inclement weather. Today’s TV schedule (view the full fortnight’s schedule here):

• 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. EDT: First-round play (ESPN2)