Wimbledon 2012 Update: Fish Returns to Action With Win and Kvitova Moves On
Playing his first match since having a medical procedure on his heart, Mardy Fish of the United States hit 24 aces and beat the oldest competitor in the men’s singles draw, 34-year-old Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo of Spain, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 at Wimbledon on Tuesday to advance to the second round. The 30-year-old Fish hadn’t played a competitive match in nearly three months after having an accelerated heartbeat. Fish reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year.
However, Fish opted out of his post-match press conference, and was quoted as "not feeling well" after the match. Currently sitting at 12th in the world, Fish will next face Great Britain’s James Ward in round two after Ward’s tough 4-6, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Pablo Andujar.
On the women’s side of the draw and returning to the court where she won her first Grand Slam championship a year ago, the fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova overcame a slow start and a late rain delay to open her title defense with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Akgul Amanmuradova. Kvitova fell behind 3-0 and 4-1 in the first set on Centre Court before running off seven straight games to take command against the 96th-ranked player. After Kvitova squandered a match point at 5-3 in the second set, play was suspended and the covers rolled onto the court as rain fell on the court. When play resumed just 30 minutes later, it took Kvitova just three minutes to wrap up the match.
"I was nervous," Kvitova said. "It was my first time being defending champion of a Grand Slam. Of course I would like to make everyone happy, but it wasn’t that easy, but I’m happy I stayed calm and didn’t panic in important moments. It was a huge honor to play on Centre Court today."
