Retiring former men’s singles champion Lleyton Hewitt has kept his final Wimbledon campaign alive with a trademark five-set win alongside countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis in their opening round match of the gentlemen’s doubles event.
The 2002 Wimbledon singles champion was bundled out of the men’s singles on Monday but has guaranteed himself at least two more appearances at SW19 – Hewitt will also contest the mixed doubles event – following a two-sets-to-love fightback to secure a place in the second round
The Australian pair upset No.15 seeds Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen 6-7(6), 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-2, 8-6 after almost four hours on court.
“It was great playing with one of the top young Aussies out there and it was a lot of fun for both of us to try to get the win and the way that we did it, we were very close to losing in straight sets but we kept fighting and we were able to find a way to turn it around,” Hewitt said.
The two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No.1 will retire at next year’s Australian Open, but said his final Championships campaign was business as usual.
“In some ways it feels different knowing it might be your last match out there but in others you prepare the same to go out and play as well as you possibly can and do all the right things, so when you’re out there you’re still competing and that kind of stuff isn’t going through your head.”
A large and vocal crowd of Australian supporters has turned out in force at SW19 this week, spurring Hewitt and Kokkinakis to victory on Day 4.
We get great support from the fans and that’s one thing I’ll really miss
“It’s a great atmosphere, there are a lot of Aussies to support this year in singles and in doubles. We get great support from the fans and that’s one thing I’ll really miss,” Hewitt said.
All the other seeds in action on survived the day’s play, with the top two seeds sailing through their opening round matches. No.1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan took the first step towards avenging their loss in the final of Wimbledon 2014 with a crushing win over Gero Kretschmer and Alexander Satschko.
The three-time Wimbledon title-holders, competing at their 17th consecutive Championships, turned on a dominant display to win 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. “It’s been a while since we played a match but we’ve played a lot of practice matches and it felt good out there, we broke right out of the gates and we never really got into any sticky moments,” Mike said.
A torn stomach muscle has kept Mike sidelined since the pair lost in the final at Roland Garros earlier this month, but the doubles ace was unhampered in the opening round match. “I’ve been rehabbing really good, I didn’t hit serves until probably 10 days ago and I’ve just been smoothing it and today it was 100 per cent,” he said.
With Mike recovering from injury, Bob enjoyed a more unconventional preparation for Wimbledon 2015, taking time out with his family at Disneyland Paris. The twins’ win sets them up for an all-American clash with Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey in the second round, where the top seeds will come under heavy fire. “It will be a tough match, they’re going to be serving big so it will depend on if we can get in on their service games,” Mike said.
Despite losing the final in 2014 to the then unseeded pair Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil, the Bryans have fond memories of the thrilling five-set decider. “It’s only on my mind when I walk past the board and I don’t see my name there but it’s wiped clean, it’s actually nice we don’t have to defend the points, that’s the positive way to look at it,” Mike laughed.
“It’s a good memory because it was a great match, everyone’s still saying it was a very exciting match, high quality and it put those guys on the map and now we have kind of a rivalry.”
The Americans, who share 16 Grand Slam titles between them, have won at least one Grand Slam doubles crown every year since 2004 but are yet to capture a major this season, bowing out of the Australian Open in the third round and finishing runner-up at Roland Garros earlier this month.
Meanwhile, No.2 seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo had an easy run to the second round when Leonardo Mayer and Diego Schwartzman were forced to retire from their match trailing 6-4, 4-0 after Schwartzman was treated for breathing difficulties.
Elsewhere, there was a large British contingent, with nine in action. Doubles specialist Jamie Murray and Australian partner John Peers, the No.13 seeds, proved too strong for British duo Luke Bambridge and Liam Broady, winning 6-1, 7-6(2), 6-2.
“I think we were pretty comfortable, we had a good start obviously and we were pretty comfortable on our serve the whole match, really,” Murray said. “I guess we got to a tie-break in the second set but we were always up in that tie-break as well and we played a pretty good third set so I think we were pretty happy with how we performed.”
The pair will now meet Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak, whom they defeated in the opening round at 's-Hertogenbosch earlier this month, and could then come up against the defending champions in the third round.
“If we win we [could] play Pospisil and Sock, who obviously won last year, so I’m sure that will be a difficult match for us but it’s doubles, a lot of the teams can beat each other so I guess if you’re going to win the tournament you’re going to have to beat some good teams,” Murray said.
Fellow Brit Dominic Inglot and French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin also advanced, defeating Rameez Junaid and Adil Shamasdin 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 but the news wasn’t so good for Edward Corrie and Kyle Edmund, who suffered a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 loss to Sergey Betov and Alexander Bury.
Brothers Ken and Neal Skupski also came undone by No.7 seeds Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6(5), 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, while James Ward and Australian partner Matthew Ebden went down 7-5, 6-2, 7-6(3) to Teymuraz Gabashvili and Yen-Hsun Lu.
In other results, 1999 Wimbledon men’s doubles champion Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Janko Tipsarevic were bundled out by Robert Lindstedt and Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
No.16 seeds Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah were pushed to five sets but progressed with a 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Chris Guccione and Andre Sa.
