Pe'er, Glushko and Sela all out in 1st round of Wimbledon

All three of Israel's representatives in the singles tournaments suffer first-round exits.

By ALLON SINAI
Dudi Sela 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Dudi Sela 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
All three of Israel’s representatives in the singles tournaments at Wimbledon suffered first-round exits on Tuesday, with Shahar Pe’er, Julia Glushko and Dudi Sela failing to claim even a single set.
Pe’er, ranked No. 78 in the world, didn’t win a single game on Tuesday after entering the second day of her match against No. 16 seed Caroline Wozniacki trailing 6-3, 2-0.
The Dane didn’t take long to wrap up a 6-3, 6-0 win, leaving Pe’er without a Grand Slam victory since last January.
Glushko (82), making her main draw debut at Wimbledon, never really found her footing against last year’s finalist Lisicki (19), losing 6-2, 6-1 after just 57 minutes on Center Court.
Sela (101) had the easiest draw on paper, but he too failed to win a set on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Mikhail Kukushkin (63). Break point conversion was the decisive factor in the match, with the Israeli registering just a single break from 11 opportunities. Kukushkin of Kazakhstan converted four of his eight chances and Sela was sent packing after one hour and 48 minutes, meaning he has been past the first round of a Grand Slam event only once since 2011.
Glushko struggled desperately on her serve throughout the match, with the German breaking in the very first game of the afternoon and reaching break points in all four of her opponent’s service games in the first set. Glushko broke in the sixth game, but dropped her serve yet again in the subsequent game and Lisicki quickly wrapped up the set. The German, who has reached at least the quarterfinals in her past four appearances in Wimbledon, only losing to Marion Bartoli in the final last year, needed just 22 minutes to clinch the second set and complete the victory against the Israeli, who hit 22 unforced errors and just four winners.
Pe’er gave the former world No. 1 a real run for her money in the first set on Monday, but squandered three break points in a pivotal seventh game and never recovered.
Rain suspended play for the night with the score tied at 30-30 in the third game, but the long break did nothing to change the momentum, with the Dane not needing long to complete the win on Tuesday on her way to the second round.
Pe’er, who lost for the sixth time in seven meetings against Wozniacki, is still without a Grand Slam victory since last year’s Australian Open. Her last win at the All England Club came back in 2010, with the Israeli losing in the first round in her past three appearances after missing Wimbledon for the first time in a decade last year.


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