In news that will surprise absolutely no one, it rained in London on Monday.
A handful of matches at both Wimbledon and the AEGON Open were able to finish before the heavens opened up in the afternoon. But countless others had to be postponed, thus necessitating what will be a wild order of play at both locations on Tuesday.
The beginning of qualification rounds at the All-England Club was highlighted by a brother vs. brother showdown between Jurgen Melzer and Gerald Melzer. Ten years Gerald’s elder and obviously armed with far more experience, Jurgen advanced with a routine 6-1, 6-4 win that required only 47 minutes of play.
“It’s the worst feeling,” the world No. 8 assured. “My coach was joking about it (before the draw). I hope it never happens again. Some people like to compete against family, and we do when we play cards or video games, but it’s not the same thing when it’s a tournament match.”
“Neither of us were happy to see the draw,” Gerald reflected. “We had a good practice and were looking forward to playing at Wimbledon, but it’s not the kind of match you’d want to play twice.”
Speaking of brothers….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8By7ZeH38]
As for an even quicker match, the always entertaining Dustin Brown needed a mere 33 minutes to blast Adrian Ungur off the court. For those counting, that is just six minutes longer than the shortest completed contest in ATP main-draw history (27 minutes in Jarkko Nieminen’s beatdown of Bernard Tomic at the Miami Masters in 2010).
The American contingent in SW19, meanwhile, did not fare well. Jarmere Jenkins, Jared Donaldson, Dennis Novikov, and Chase Buchanan all lost. Buchanan seemed to be on his way to a victory while leading Tristan Lamasine 6-1, 2-1, but the former Ohio State Buckeye abruptly retired due to a knee injury. Ryan Harrison’s match against Guido Andreozzi was heading to a third set when play was stopped.
A few showdowns more competitive in nature took place in Nottingham, where it was a mixed day at the office for Great Britain. Wild card Kyle Edmund went down to Malek Jaziri in a pair of tiebreakers, but Slovenian-turned-Brit Aljaz Bedene held off Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2.
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