TENNIS in DEPTH.

Venus Williams rallied from a set down to beat Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm in a match of breathtaking drama under the roof on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. Date-Krumm took an incredible first set on a tie-break but only after Williams had battled from 5-1 down and saved a total of seven set points. At times, the tennis was of the highest quality as Date-Krumm attacked Williams’ serve and the American scrapped her way back into the set. Eventually, the 40-year-old Date-Krumm – a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1996 – clinched the first set in one hour and four minutes but by then Williams had found her rhythm. The American moved a break up early in the second set to draw level in the match before prevailing in a hard-fought third to clinch a 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 8-6 victory in nearly three hours. Williams will face Spaniard Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez in round three after she beat Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-0.

The roof was closed over Centre Court as the rain fell over the rest of Wimbledon – but Williams and Date-Krumm offered the watching Duchess of Cornwall some high-class entertainment. Date-Krumm broke in Williams’ first three service games as she raced into a 3-0 lead in just nine minutes, and then opened a 5-1 advantage. Williams’ year has been badly disrupted by a hip injury she suffered at the Australian Open and she only returned to action at Eastbourne last week. Date-Krumm was too hot for Williams to handle in the opening exchanges and she raced into a 3-0 lead in just nine minutes with some pinpoint baseline winners. Williams secured one break back but immediately lost it again as Date-Krumm added some dream volleying to the winners she had been peppering past the American. But Williams refused to buckle. Her grunting got louder and she saved three set points to string together five consecutive games to heap the pressure back on Date-Krumm.

Date-Krumm twice failed to serve out the match but she was happy to attack Williams’ powerful serve and opened a 6-2 lead in the tie-break to earn four more set points. Williams hit back again, saving all of them to draw level before Date-Krumm finally edged a set ahead. It was an impressive show of mental fortitude from Kimiko-Date, who spent 12 years in retirement before returning to the circuit in 2008. On the way to holding serve in the first game of the second set, Date-Krumm switched her racquet from right hand to left to play a lob after she had been forced out wide. She is naturally left-handed but learned to play with her right to fit in with Japanese custom. But Williams levelled with a blistering winner and then sealed the first break of the second set after Date-Krumm, who had volleyed with such dexterity, planted one into the net. Date-Krumm earned two break back points but Williams’ serve had cranked up a gear and she saw them off to wrap up the set before quickly moving a break up in the decider on the back of her powerful forehand. Williams gifted Date-Krumm a break back with only her second double fault of the match after being deceived by a flick of the net cord earlier in the game. Date-Krumm had to save three break points to hold in a 10-minute game, one of them on a challenge which showed the ball had just brushed the line. Each game was fiercely contested but, with Williams’ power and some great volleying from Date-Krumm, the set went with serve until it was 7-6. And it was Date-Krumm who blinked first. Serving to stay in the match for the third time, she conceded two match points and Williams wrapped up a memorable victory when Date-Krumm’s backhand crept wide.

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Lleyton Hewitt and great hope Bernard Tomic advanced to the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday as Samantha Stosur continued her poor run at the grasscourt grand slam. A week after retiring mid-match because of a stabbing pain in his left foot, Hewitt defeated Kei Nishikori 6-1 7-6(4) 6-7(7) 6-3 late on day two to join Tomic in the second round. The youngest player in the men’s draw comfortably accounted for former world No.3 Nikolay Davydenko 7-5 6-3 7-5, while Stosur’s Wimbledon woes continued in a 6-3 6-4 loss to world No.262 Melinda Czink. There had been major questions about whether Hewitt would be able to last an entire match against the fleet-flooted Japanese youngster with his injured foot. The 2002 champion regarded his preparation as the toughest of his career leading into a grand slam before defeating Nishikori in three hours and seven minutes. He sunk to his knees to celebrate the win in front of his supporters with shadows falling across court 12.

Hungarian Czink earlier made a mockery of her lowly ranking with an impressive performance and claimed victory in an hour and seven minutes against Stosur. The former world No.37 made a bright start and despite tenth seed Stosur rallying from 4-0 down in the second set, the outsider was too good. The result added to Stosur’s ordinary record at Wimbledon as she exited the tournament at the first stage for the second straight year. In her nine trips to SW19, she has only made the third round on one occasion. There had been hopes that Stosur was ready to make inroads at SW19 following last week’s win over 2010 Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva at the lead-up event in Eastbourne. But it was not to be.

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Ana powered into the second round of the Championships with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over American Melanie Oudin. The match began at 8.25pm local time and lasted just 48 minutes, as light threatened to fade.

Former champion Maria Sharapova moved into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, winning an all-Russian match against Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-1. The No. 52-ranked Chakvetadze managed to break once in the second set but was otherwise outclassed by her sixth-seeded opponent in just over an hour. Sharapova, who won the tournament in 2004 but hasn’t gone beyond the fourth round since 2006, is the only former champion in the women’s tournament other than Venus and Serena Williams.

Caroline Wozniacki made a strong start in her quest for her first Grand Slam title on Tuesday afternoon, fending off the two-handed strokes of Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja for a 59-minute, 62 61 victory. The last time Wozniacki took the lawns of the All-England Club, a fourth round match against Petra Kvitova a year ago, she suffered her worst loss of 2010, a 46-minute, 62 60 rout. But the No.1-ranked, No.1-seeded Dane had almost exactly the reverse result against Parra Santonja, losing serve in the opening game but kicking into gear quickly and rolling to victory. She had four errors. ”The wind was blowing everywhere and I was throwing the ball up quite a few times, but I thought I actually served pretty well,” Wozniacki said. “There was also one point where I hit the ball and it almost didn’t go over, and then I hit the next one and it just flew. I just tried to adapt as well as I could today.” Wozniacki warmed up for Wimbledon with a title run at her home tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was her fifth WTA title of the year (no one else has that many) – her 46 match wins are also the most on the WTA this year.

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Andy Roddick had little trouble booking his spot in the second round of Wimbledon as he claimed a 6-4 7-6 6-3 victory over Andreas Beck. The three-time runner-up was caused some difficulties by the German’s powerful forehand but never looked truly threatened. Number eight seed Roddick has not been in great form this year and missed the French Open with a shoulder injury but is always a threat during the grass-court season. ”The second set tie-break was big for me because there’s a big difference between two sets up and one-set all,” Roddick said. ”He had a pretty smart game-plan and was going for his shots a lot, but I felt like I was playing better than him so I didn’t want to let him back in. ”I’m pretty happy with where my game is right now. I feel healthy and I know what it takes to go deep at this tournament.”

Six-time champion Roger Federer made a smooth start to his Wimbledon campaign as he saw off Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 6-4 6-2. Federer was forced to fight back from two sets down in the opening round of last year’s tournament but looked in much better form this time. World number 61 Kukushkin gave a good showing in his first match at Wimbledon but could not deal with the sheer class of his opponent.

Novak Djokovic was barely troubled as he strolled into the second round of Wimbledon after claiming a 6-4 6-1 6-1 over Jeremy Chardy. The second seed need just one hour and 20 minutes to see off his French opponent as he kept an early barrage of serves at bay before completely dominating the second and third sets. Despite world number 52 Chardy being a potentially dangerous opponent, Djokovic seemed to control almost every rally on Centre Court. The Australian Open champion carried strapping on his left knee but the apparent injury did not hinder him at all as he set up a clash with Kevin Anderson or Illya Marchenko in the next round.

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The 15th seed secured the first set but lost her grip on the match in the second as her Spainish opponent responded to force a decider. And the Serb lost her serve at a crucial time as Martinez Sanchez secured her second-round place. Jankovic’s first-round exit was her first in a Grand Slam since the French Open in 2005.

Eighth seed Petra Kvitova, 11th seed Andrea Petkovic and 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also progressed. Czech Kvitova was in excellent form after a swift 6-2 6-2 win over American Alexa Glatch, while German Petkovic beat France’s Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-3 6-4.

Russian Pavlyuchenkova also enjoyed a straight-sets 6-4 7-6 win over Lesia Tsurenko from Ukraine.

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Serena Williams overcame a spirited effort from Aravane Rezai to reach the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-3 3-6 6-1 win. The defending champion, who only recently returned to the court after almost a year on the sidelines, was not in top form but eventually overpowered her unseeded opponent. Williams took control early on in the match before Rezai surged back into contention with some brilliant strokes in the second set. However, the 13-time grand slam winner came through when it mattered before leaving in tears after being overcome by the emotion of her return to Centre Court.

Williams made a sluggish start in the opening game of the match, eventually being broken after a marathon battle that involved several deuces. Rezai consolidated the break in the next game, but Williams eventually got on the board before levelling matters by breaking to love. Williams then broke again in the sixth game as her power began to take its toll on the French player, although Rezai did halt a five-game losing slide by holding serve in the eighth game. The four-time champion served out the set at the first opportunity, however, and seemed set to go on and complete a routine win.

But Rezai stared the second set with renewed confidence, delivering her serves with greater authority and matching her opponent stroke-for-stroke. She had Williams in trouble on her serve in the fourth game after two quick points, but the American managed to dig herself out of trouble. The break game in the sixth game, however, with Williams double-faulting at a costly point to gift Rezai the advantage. A confident Rezai hardly put a foot wrong for the rest of the set, with the seventh seed fading away and making another error on set point to take the match into a decider. Rezai could not maintain her charge in the third set though, with Williams eventually pulling away to win with ease.

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Mardy Fish says the gap between the world’s top four men and the rest of the ATP tour has widened. No one outside of Nos. 1-4—Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, respectively—has reached a Grand Slam final in the past three majors.

” As far back as I can remember, it’s as top-heavy as you’ve ever seen,” said Fish after 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Marcel Granollers at Wimbledon. “I mean, those guys have all the points. If you look back maybe five or ten years, I think I have like around 2400 ATP points, and I don’t think that would put me in the Top 10. So those guys are doing well on every surface. It’s not a fluke that you see the top four seeds almost every event in the semifinals, it doesn’t matter where it is. Murray, any one of those guys could win the tournament. I wouldn’t be surprised if any one of those guys did…Roger’s Roger and Rafa’s Rafa. Djokovic is playing as well as I’ve ever seen anyone play across the net, for sure.”

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Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic began his Wimbledon career with three straight aces and believes he can pose a threat to Rafael Nadal if the two meet in the third round. Raonic put in a destructive performance to overcome world number 119 Marc Gicquel in straight sets on Monday, following the 11th-hour withdrawal of his original first-round opponent Fabio Fognini due to a thigh injury. The 20-year-old sent down 25 blistering aces on his way to beating the Frenchman 6-3 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 in his first appearance at the tournament. The Montenegro-born player will face Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in the second round before a potential meeting with Nadal, who has voiced his fears about playing powerful servers. Raonic, who can serve at up to 140mph, is a champion in the making according to John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova, but he is not getting carried away with the pressure being thrust upon his young shoulders.

Despite this being his first appearance at SW19, the confident Canadian says he will not be going out to make up the numbers if he clashes with world number one Nadal. Asked whether a Centre Court clash with the defending champion would be enough reward for this year, Raonic said: “Even though people are saying I’m playing with nothing to lose and all that kind of stuff, I care a lot about it. ”I’m not going to go lose and just accept it and say, ‘I’ve done well this year. It’s fine’. I’m not that kind of person. ”I expect a lot from myself. I want to achieve a lot and I don’t want to put any limits on myself.” Raonic has hit the most aces on this year’s ATP tour – and he showed how powerful his serve can be by claiming the first three points against Gicquel with three rapid unanswered deliveries. Having grown up watching his hero Pete Sampras dominate Wimbledon in the 1990s, Raonic admitted that playing in SW19 for the first time was a memorable experience. ”It was fun,” Raonic said. “There’s a lot of tradition here. I grew up watching Sampras win here so many times. It has a pretty big meaning to me. It’s a pretty special tournament. ”It has been around for 125 years, and I think that’s something pretty special. The best players find a way to win here.”

Raonic’s preparation for the tournament has been limited, with the young star only beginning his grass career in Halle, Germany, earlier this month. His hopes for a smooth start to Wimbledon might have been knocked when Fognini withdrew from today’s clash just 45 minutes before the scheduled start. But Raonic was pleased by the way he handled the late change of opponent. ”It didn’t affect me at all,” the 31st seed said. ”I knew Fognini was hurt at the French Open so it just crossed my mind that I could be playing him. It was the first time it had happened to me. It was completely new and the two players are completely different, but I’m happy with how I dealt with it.”

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