Wimbledon, England — Australian men once dominated Wimbledon. This year they failed to win a match.
Aussies went 0 for 4, including a loss Tuesday by 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt. That means no Australian man in the second round, the first time that has happened since 1938.
During a 12-year span from 1960 to 1971, Australians won the Wimbledon men’s title 10 times. But in recent years they’ve experienced a decline similar to the United States, with South Americans, Eastern Europeans and Asians increasingly competitive as tennis becomes more global.
Hewitt’s 14th Wimbledon appearance was brief. He needed a wild card to enter the tournament and lost to No. 5-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Aussies Bernard Tomic and Matthew Ebden also lost Tuesday.
Tomic, who reached the quarterfinals last year as an 18-year-old qualifier, lost to Belgian wild card David Goffin. Ebden was beaten by Benoit Paire. Another Australian, Marinko Matosevic, lost to Xavier Malisse on Monday.
No. 2-seeded Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, beat Irina Falconi 6-1, 6-4, and four-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 6-4.
Nadal
marches on
In men’s play on Centre Court, two-time champion Rafael Nadal lost the first four games but rebounded to beat fellow left-hander Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-3.
Andy Murray cruised into the second round by brushing aside Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.
Twelve matches were suspended because of rain. Three-time finalist Andy Roddick led Jamie Baker 7-6 (1), 4-2 when their match was halted.
British woman reaches 3rd rd
Meanwhile, Heather Watson gave Britain a woman in Wimbledon’s third round for the first time in a decade by beating Jamie Hampton of the United States 6-1, 6-4.
The 103rd-ranked Watson won the match’s first five games to take control.
In the first round on Monday, the 20-year-old Watson became the first British woman to win a match on Centre Court since 1985. Now she’s the first woman from the host country to make it to the third round at the All England Club since Elena Baltacha in 2002.
Last night, Roger Federer put on quite a display in front of Prince Charles, sweeping aside Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.
Hitting winners with clinical accuracy, Federer dictated play from the start and never faced a break point. He broke the Italian five times and wrapped up the victory in 1 hour, 13 minutes.
Earlier, Sara Errani needed only seven seconds to complete a rain-interrupted win at Wimbledon, and she didn’t even have to hit a ball.
Errani led American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-1, 5-3 and held the advantage one point from victory when their match was halted Tuesday evening. /ap