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Ones aren't done Williams, Hewitt open with quick straight-set victoriesPosted: Tuesday June 25, 2002 10:08 AMUpdated: Tuesday June 25, 2002 4:10 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Venus Williams opened her bid for a third consecutive Wimbledon title Tuesday with a routine Centre Court victory against a British wild card playing her first tour-level match. Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, looking for his first Wimbledon crown, got off to a strong start with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 win against Jonas Bjorkman. Tim Henman, the bookies' favorite for the men's title, swept French qualifier Jean-Francois Bachelot 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 as he began his latest attempt to become the first British male champion since Fred Perry in 1936. No. 4 Monica Seles, No. 5 Kim Clijsters and No. 6 Justine Henin also advanced to the second round on another day with no major surprises. The top-seeded Williams, aiming to become the first woman to win Wimbledon three years in a row since Steffi Graf in 1991-93, beat 344th-ranked Jane O'Donoghue 6-1, 6-1 in 44 minutes. O'Donoghue, 19, came into the match against Williams as a 200-1 longshot with British bookmakers. She put up a gutsy performance but was never in the same league with Williams, who has won four Grand Slams and is the hardest hitter in the women's game.
When O'Donoghue won her first game after going down 3-0 in the first set, she pumped her fists and tried to fire up the crowd. But Williams reasserted her authority with a huge serve on the next point and wrapped up the first set in 21 minutes. Williams won 20 of 21 points on serve in the opening set. But she had trouble with her first serve and was broken by O'Donoghue in the third game of the second set. It was just a minor blip, though, as Williams sailed the rest of the way. When it was over, Williams broke into her only smile of the match, beaming to the crowd as she did a little twirl. Watching in the guest box alongside British heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis was Serena Williams, who is seeded to face her sister in the final. As defending women's champion, Williams had the honor of opening Centre Court play Tuesday. But she said it wasn't the same as coming out the first time to defend her title. "Last year, it was a really nice feeling, that's for sure," she said. "When I came out this time, I was all business. I wasn't thinking about nostalgia or anything at all, except hitting the ball well. "Afterwards, when I walked off, that's when I kind of realized, 'I'm coming back as the defending champion. I have the honor to play first on.'" Williams gave O'Donoghue credit but questioned why she stood in so close while returning serve. Williams won 18 of the 19 points in which she got her first serve in. "Maybe she's never played a server like me before," she said with understatement. "Actually, to be honest, she played very well. She executed quite well. But then I'm so comfortable on the grass. I served and returned well. I just have a lot more experience." O'Donoghue said the reality of the occasion hit her as soon as Williams came out and hit four big serves in the opening game. "Then I realized, 'I've got a mountain to climb here,'" she said. "I felt I did do myself justice. I'm playing against the best player in the world. I thought I did quite well. I went out there an I enjoyed every minute of it." Hewitt followed Williams on Centre Court and needed just 1 hour, 56 minutes to put away Bjorkman, a solid grass-courter who won a Wimbledon tuneup last week at Nottingham. Hewitt had pulled out of a tournament in the Netherlands last week with a stomach virus but showed no signs of weakness Tuesday in a surprisingly one-sided match. He made only seven unforced errors, while producing 30 winners, and broke Bjorkman six times while losing his own serve only once. After closing out the match, Hewitt turned to his supporters in the guest box and swung his right arm in an uppercut motion. Hewitt had won all four previous matches against Bjorkman, but this was their first meeting on grass. Hewitt, the reigning U.S. Open champion, has never made it past the round of 16 at Wimbledon, but Tuesday's performance showed he will be tough to beat. On Court 1, fans wore Union Jack flags and hats, held up the red-and-white English flag of St. George and shouted "Come on, Tim!" as No. 4 Henman dismantled the 165th-ranked Bachelot in just 91 minutes. Henman, a semifinalist in three of the past four years, had only three unforced errors in the match and got a standing ovation as he left the court. He will face another qualifier in the second round and is projected to meet Hewitt in the semis. In other early matches Tuesday, Seles blanked 98th-ranked Eva Bes 6-0, 6-0 in 37 minutes; Clijsters beat American Samantha Reeves 6-2, 7-6 (5), and fellow Belgian Henin -- last year's losing finalist -- overcame 239rd-ranked American Brie Rippner 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
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