Shahar, Dudi both in trouble when rain hits

Shahar Pe’er and Dudi Sela find themselves in awkward situations after their first round matches in Wimbledon were suspended due to rain on Tuesday night with both one set away from bowing out.

Pe’er lost the first set 6-2 against No. 22 seed Jolie Goerges, with the German leading 2-1 in the second set without breaks.

Sela is in even more trouble having dropped the first two sets to Croat giant Ivo Karlovic, trailing 6-4, 6-4, 1-1.

Sela showed some promising signs when he broke Karlovic early in the first set, but the Israeli dropped his serve in the 10th game of each of the first two sets and has a mountain to climb on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich’s first-round doubles match was postponed once more on Tuesday, with the Israeli duo not being able to resume the encounter against Treat Conrad Huey and Dominic Inglot.

Ram and Erlich were trailing 4-6, 6-3, 2-6 when play was suspended due to darkness on Monday night.

However, the Israelis still had a reason to celebrate on Tuesday after being handed one of the ITF’s eight places at the Olympic doubles tournament, also to be played at Wimbledon.

There will be 32 teams competing for the medals in London, with 24 duos receiving direct acceptance.

Ram and Erlich, who are ranked No. 44 and 43, respectively, will be taking part in their third Olympics.

Elsewhere on Day 2, Rafael Nadal needed four games to adjust his sights for grass-court combat at Wimbledon on Tuesday while another former champion, Serena Williams, powered through to the second round in convincing style.

Mallorcan Nadal, looking to reclaim the title he won in 2008 and 2010, found himself 4-0 down against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci on Centre Court before a barrage of heavy hitting took him to a 7-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in two hours 15 minutes.

Williams, the day after her sister Venus was bundled out in the first round, restored family honor with a 6- 2, 6-4 defeat of battling Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

After world No. 1 and title holder Novak Djokovic and six-times winner Roger Federer moved safely through on Monday, Andy Murray was the last of the men’s big four in first-round action, dominating Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 in a clinical display on Centre Court.

Wildcard Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga while 20th seed Bernard Tomic’s surprise 3-6, 6-3, 6- 4, 6-4 defeat by Belgian wildcard David Goffin made it a bad day for Australia.

Hewitt, still one of the game’s most ferocious competitors despite the ravages of his long career, would have raised an eyebrow at 19-year-old Tomic’s post-match analysis.

“My quality of tennis should be getting me to a lot of semifinals, finals at tournaments or even winning,” he said.

“But lack of concentration, not working hard, it costs you.”

Women’s defending champion Petra Kvitova had the honor of opening Centre Court proceedings on what is traditionally Ladies Day at the All England Club.

Like Nadal, she also took a while to find her rhythm before beating Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4, 6-4 in a match interrupted by the first raindrops of the week.

Deposed world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka was untroubled against Irina Falconi, screaming to a 6-1, 6-4 victory while former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the 24th seed, survived a scare against home favorite Laura Robson before winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Second seed Nadal, who has never lost in the first round of a grand slam, admitted he was fortunate to progress in three sets against the 80th ranked Bellucci.

“I served well at the beginning and I made more mistakes than usual,” Nadal said. “I was lucky to come back to win the opening set after being 4-0 down.”

Serena, whose career has teetered on the brink since she collected her fourth Wimbledon singles title in 2010, was given a decent workout by Strycova on Court Two.

The fired-up 30-year-old let out a roar when she closed out the match and looked in the mood to fly the Williams flag throughout the fortnight after fivetime champion Venus’s disheartening display on the opening day.

“Definitely a little relief, I think I was letting out a lot of cries.

I was happy to get through that,” Williams told reporters, refusing to reveal her thoughts on being scheduled on the club’s third-largest court.

Reuters contributed to this report 

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