Rackets for battle: the Russian derby and the victories of our leaders at the start of Wimbledon

On the opening day of Wimbledon, the leaders of Russian tennis, Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev, joined the fight. Both did not give away a single set to their rivals, but the victories turned out to be different in mood. The Grand Slam tournament in London began with the Russian derby between Roman Safiullin and Andrey Rublev.

The Russian Thriller

Safiullin looked more confident from the start, but his advantage was minimal — the tennis players calmly took their serves in an equal fight. However, the closer the opponents got to the tie-break, the more noticeable the decline in Roman's game became. It seemed that Andrey was getting used to the surface better and putting more pressure on him psychologically. But with the score 5:4, Safiullin did an excellent job at the reception: he ended up on a double set point and took the game. On the decisive ball, he reacted to the touch of the rope and shortened it to the halfcourt, after which he effectively intercepted a passing shot along the line, leaving Andrei out of action.

The incident seemed to provoke Rublev, and he started the second set with an early break at zero. However, it was not possible to build on the success: Safiullin responded at the reception. So the opponents continued, alternating mistakes and beautiful draws with powerful punches. Moreover, Roman was not going to concede at all and took his serve "to zero" twice. During the game, he seemed to have found the main key to success: he sent balls that were uncomfortable for Rublev so that he had to reach out and gently return them. If the first part of the algorithm worked, he immediately went to the grid and either successfully completed the draw or forced Andrey to hit the grid.

So Safiullin got to the score of 6:5 and in the decisive game he again got two set points (and then the third). But this time Rublev coped and turned the game into a tie-break. There, Roman began to be more passive, the second number, for which he paid the price. In the end, he tried to get back into the fight, giving out a few bright punches, but still lost — 6:8.
In the third set, Rublev continued to gain momentum. However, at first he vented his emotions, swearing obscenely, but then he gathered himself and took three games in a row. With the score 3:1, Andrey managed to win back from 0:40. After that, he did not allow his opponent to return to the game and confidently brought the game to victory.

However, he failed to maintain the pace. Already at the start of the fourth set, Safiullin made a break, after which he confirmed it "under zero". Rublev had nothing to answer this, except for an unsuccessful attempt in the seventh game. Roman, in turn, served accurately and confidently, made minimal mistakes and naturally equalized the score — 6-3 in half an hour.

The fifth game promised to be intense, and it turned out that way. However, fatigue played a role, and the cost of the mistake was high, so both tennis players refused to be too active. Between the two of them, they scored four games "under zero" and, as expected, reached a tie-break. That's where the real thriller began — Roman and Andrey reached the decisive serve twice, but they couldn't finish it in any way. As a result, Rublev couldn't stand it first — at 12:13 he missed his opponent's sharp blow in the center and conceded. In the fifth set, the Russians fought for more than an hour — 7:6 (14:12).
Safiullin's victory was a real sensation. Now he will try to make another one and make it to the third round of Wimbledon — then the Dutchman Botik van de Sandshulp awaits the tennis player.

Medvedev's perfect start

It was very difficult to assess the readiness of Russia's first men's racket Daniil Medvedev for Wimbledon. After a quick flight in Paris, he played two grass tournaments — in 's-Hertogenbosch and in Halle. He won two victories each, which is not bad, but he also lost to some of his less famous rivals, Poland's Kamil Majchak (who later took the title) and Germany's Daniel Altmaier. The main thing that keeps Medvedev's game going is physical fitness and movement on the court. I would really like everything to be in order by the start of Wimbledon.

At the beginning of the match against Croatian Marin Cilic, it was important to "catch" the serve. The opponents are of the same height — 198 centimeters. Both serve well, but in the game on the back line, Marin more often relies on the attack. The percentage of hitting the first ball in such a confrontation is incredibly important if it is high — you take the games on your serve faster, saving energy for playing on the reception. And it was precisely with the stability of the first serve that the Croat, unlike Dani, immediately had problems. A large number of the second ones, Medvedev's confident deep techniques (and his flat punches are very uncomfortable on grass) — the advantage in the opening was quickly earned. At the same time, Daniil himself served very well, which resulted in an unexpectedly short first set — 6:1 with three (!) breaks.

Cilic had no choice but to start taking risks. He was clearly inferior to his opponent in movement, so he had to find opportunities to attack. It didn't work out very well. In recent days, there has been a lot of talk about the hot weather in Europe, which, of course, would not be good for an aged Marine. But it was 24 degrees in London at the beginning of the match — not a spring chill, of course, but also not a sauna, as in the continental part of the Old World. By the way, the weather forecast for the coming week is almost perfect — rains, which often rearrange the Wimbledon schedule, are not expected.

In the second set, Cilic hit the first ball with a percentage of 45, which is incredibly low for a match of this level. Medvedev liked the calmness in his game. Where there was one unforced error, the second one should not have happened. The key point was to have a seven-game winning streak, thanks to which the Russian took the second set 6-2 and led 3-0 in the third. However, then Danya lost his concentration, allowed the score to be equalized and even heroically won back break points with the score 4:4... It worked out. 6:1, 6:2, 6:4. Cilic made several mistakes in the final game and went on a well-deserved rest.

Medvedev's next opponent will be his namesake, Daniel Merida Aguilar. To be honest, it should be easier with him than with Chilich. The Spaniard is 21 years old, and until this summer he did not play on grass at all, betting on clay tournaments. But not so long ago, he managed to break into the top hundred tennis players in the ranking, after which he got the opportunity to play at Wimbledon. Daniel should have been packing his bags by now, but he was lucky: in the first round match, Argentine Camilo Hugo Carabelli, leading 2-0 in games and with a break in the third, twisted his ankle and had to withdraw.

Recall that in the quarterfinals, Medvedev goes to Sinner, who won his match against Miomir Ketsmanovich on Monday only in the fifth set. So now Dani's prospects seem very attractive.

A no-smile match for Mirra

After the triumphant Roland Garros, Mirra Andreeva played only one unsuccessful match on grass — in Bad Homburg, Germany, she lost to her compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova. There is nothing terrible in such a result. A year ago, before Wimbledon, the Russian won only one of three matches on this surface, then reaching the quarterfinals at the English major.

Mirra went to the first round match against Magda Lynette with visible tension on her face. The lightness that we saw in Paris a month ago was missing at the start of the fight. It took a while for the Russian to get used to the uncomfortable bounce off the grass and find her shots. It was good that her serve was flying well in this segment (Andreeva had already made two aces in her first game), and her opponent made mistakes.

Gradually, our tennis player began to adapt to the London conditions. With the score 2-2, two graceful strokes brought Mirra to a triple break point, which was helped by the net - the ball hit the cable and collapsed on Linnet's side, which angered the Polish. Magda's irritation peaked after a game at 0:30. After sleeping through the reception, she started hitting her leg with a racket in the style of Andreeva herself. This outburst cheered Lynette up and added aggressiveness and precision to her game. Having saved her serve, the Polish woman went for someone else's, which she did. However, it was possible to even the score only on the fourth attempt, when the Russian woman made a gift in the form of a double mistake.

Magda didn't have enough concentration and anger for a long time. With the score at 5-5, Mirra's slurred actions earned her a hidden set point. On it, the opponent presented a return gift, making her first double in the match. The Russian closed the game with confident serves.

The second set started for our tennis player with problems on serve. Not always finding the right square, Andreeva allowed Lynette to make break points, one of which was a double. Finding herself on the edge, Mirra was impeccable and did not let the Polka lead. After that, the difficulties seemed to recede. The Russian woman became cooler, but Magda clearly lacked patience in the shootings. A few unnecessary outs by Lynette put Andreeva ahead with a break.

Upon confirmation of this break, oddities began to occur in Mirra's behavior. After losing two draws, which was not critical in the score, now she hit her racket hard on her leg and asked loudly: "What should I do?" The serves returned immediately along with the aces, but the mood did not appear. Magda nevertheless found her opportunities at the reception, which increasingly exasperated the Russian woman.

However, when the score was 4-4, Andreeva gritted her teeth and went to put the squeeze on. She often cursed, slipped and fell, missed break points, but every time she got up and snapped. As a result, the Polish player couldn't stand it, and, as in the first set, she handed our tennis player a hidden setball (also known as matchball) with a double mistake.

Having passed zero and issued a ticket to the second round, Mirra did not even hint at a smile, only exhaled with relief. The happiness on her face appeared only in the post-match interview, when she was asked questions about the victory at Roland Garros and Serena Williams.
Further down the grid, Andreeva will face 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbara Krejcikova.