Wimbledon 2012: Federer, Roddick Roll; Wozniacki, Stosur Out

Novak Djokovic is the No. 1 player in the world and the winner of four of the last six slams. Young American Ryan Harrison, whether he wants to be or not, is still in the “moral victories” stage of what could one day be an excellent career. Harrison threw some haymakers at Djokovic in Wednesday’s 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 loss, but he just couldn’t land the punches that counted. The two had almost the exact same winners-to-unforced-errors ratio (31 to 15 for Djokovic, 30 to 14 for Harrison), but the match swung on nine points; Harrison forced six break points on Djokovic’s serve, and Djokovic forced three on Harrison’s. Djokovic won all nine points. That’ll do it. Djokovic needed just one break point per set to control the match.

In virtually all phases of the game, Harrison just needs to improve a little bit. He won 73 percent of his first-serve points and 48 percent of his second-serve points -- improve each of those by just 5 percent to 10 percent (that is, win one more of every 10 to 20 service points) and he’s in business. Meanwhile, he won just 22 percent of the points on Djokovic’s serve; that must improve. If there’s a specific weakness in his game, that’s it. Djokovic clearly respected Harrison’s game and served quite aggressively, but Harrison needs to figure out a way to get a little bit better in that regard.

Wednesday at the 2012 Championships at Wimbledon wrapped up with No. 1 seeds Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova in play. Djokovic advanced with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over American Ryan Harrison. Maria Sharapova took the first set 7-6 (10), and led 3-1 over Tsvetana Pironkova in the second set before play was suspended until Thursday due to fading light.

The 20-year-old Harrison gave Djokovic a good match. However, he couldn’t notch the necessary break that could have turned the tables in any of the three sets. Harrison went 0-for-6 on break chances, compared to an efficient 3-for-3 for Djokovic. Harrison also struggled serving and returning second serves. Djokovic won 82 percent of his second serves, compared to 48 percent for Harrison.

The second round of the 2012 Championships at Wimbledon has its first upset. It likely won’t be the last. The grass courts of Wimbledon have already had their fair share of surprises as Day 3 is underway on Wednesday.

In the latest upset, women’s No. 5 seed Samantha Stosur was upended by unseeded Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. The two players split the first two sets before Rus took a 5-3 lead in the third. Rus appeared on the verge of putting it away, but Stosur battled back to win a fourth set and regain the serve. After getting a 30-love edge on the serve, Stosur knocked a couple of balls into the net and winged one wide of the court on a very bad stroke. Stosur looked out of sorts and Rus took advantage, taking the set and the win.

The second round of the 2012 Championships at Wimbledon got underway on Wednesday on the famous grass courts of the world’s most well-known Grand Slam event. While the men’s second round matches are just beginning, one of the tournament’s top seeds has had little trouble already advancing.

Men’s No. 3 seed Roger Federer had little difficulty dispatching opponent Fabio Fognini, defeating the unseeded Italian player in three dominating sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Federer will now advance to the third round without having faced a significant challenge. Federer overwhelmed his first round opponent, Albert Ramos, on Monday, eliminating Ramos without ever yielding more than one game in any of the three sets.