Russians have mixed day at Wimbledon
Russia's top player Maria Sharapova got off to a great start against Taipei's Yung Jan Chan. The world number two having an easy outing against the underdog – cruising to a 6-1, 7-5 victory.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams upset Russia's Alla Kudravtseva. It was a tough opening round for the American though – Venus taking victory in the third set with the score 2-6 6-3 7-5.
Earlier the same day Amelie Mauresmo started her title defence in style – the Frenchwoman seeded fourth in this year's tournament, swept American Jamef Jackson in two quick sets.
And Ekaterina Byckova's match with Severine Bremond was postponed when the Russian was down by set.
Elena Vesnina and Anna Chakvetadze didn't take much time to outplay Olga Puchkova and Angeliaue Kerber respectively
Svetlana Kuznetsova is through to the second round after beating Ukranian Jukia Vakulenko in three sets.
In the men's singles, Igor Andreev has become the third Russian casualty at the tournament so far, courtesy of James Blake.
The American has always been a troublesome opponent for the Russian, winning all four of their previous encounters and this one proved no different as Andreev went down in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Much better luck for Marat Safin though. He beat Rick de Voest – but says he lacks confidence after having missed quite a few matches recently.
“I have been struggling for the past couple of months, in fact more than a couple of months. Confidence comes with many matches and playing a lot of semi-finals and finals. Last time I played a semi-final was in May so that is when my confidence left me,” confessed Marat.
And king of clay Rafael Nadal was able to adjust from the slowest to the fastest of surfaces with ease.
The world number two having little trouble against American Mardy Fish, winning in straight sets 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.
There was a heated battle between Dmutry Tursunov and Nicolas Almagro, with the Russian wining in four sets.
Igor Kunytsyn was beaten by Yeu-Tzuoo Wang despite a comeback from the Russian.
Meanwhile, Nikolay Davydenko didn't have any problem against Evgeniy Korolev in an all-Russian clash.
