Wimbledon, June 29: Venus Williams accumulated 10 aces Tuesday by smacking serves at up to 114 mph not quite like the old days, but not too shabby, either. Williams began her record-extending 90th Grand Slam tournament with her 90th career victory at Wimbledon, beating Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
The schedule on Day 2 of the tournament, like on Day 1, was jumbled by showers. At least 18 matches were postponed until Wednesday and a dozen were suspended in progress shortly after Williams finished off a victory that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours.
Women’s winners included 2018 champion Angelique Kerber, No. 1 seed Ash Barty, No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, No. 15 Maria Sakkari, two-time Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva, 2020 French Open semifinalist Nadia Podoroska and Americans Shelby Rogers, Madison Brengle and qualifier Claire Liu. Another U.S. woman, No. 28 seed Alison Riske, was beaten 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 by Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic.
In men’s action, Sebastian Korda made a successful Wimbledon debut, eliminating No. 15 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5).
No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 9 Diego Schwartzman and No. 26 Fabio Fognini also advanced. (AP)
