By E.J. Crawford, USTA.com
The U.S. contingent kicked off play at Wimbledon on Monday, delivering a marathon victory, some solid wins by Top 10 seeds and, in all, seven Americans into the second round.
In the best match of the day, 28th seed Sam Querrey rebounded from two sets down to outlast Lukas Rosol, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 12-10, finally breaking the Czech in the 21st game of the final set and then serving out the match to move into the second round for the third consecutive year. The Californian converted just seven of 22 break-point chances – to three-for-three for Rosol – but controlled the match in every other statistical category, powering through on the strength of 33 aces and 82 winners, against just 27 unforced errors.
Advancing in far more orderly fashion on the women’s side were Top 10 seeds Venus Williams and Madison Keys. No. 8 seed Williams – a five-time Wimbledon champion and, at 36, the oldest woman in the field – aced an early test against the talented teen Donna Vekic, 7-6, 6-4, while No. 9 Keys eased past Laura Sigemund, 6-3, 6-1.
Other women’s winners on Monday included Varvara Lepchenko, who defeated Teliana Pereira, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2, and Samantha Crawford, who topped Paula Kania, 7-5, 6-3.
Among the men, 27th seed Jack Sock cruised in a potentially tricky matchup against the talented Ernests Gulbis, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and recently crowned Aegon Open champion Steve Johnson prevailed over Malek Jaziri, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4.
In all, 18 American women and 11 American men are entered in the Wimbledon singles main draws this year. The 18 women are the most of any nation, and the 29 combined U.S. men’s and women’s singles players also lead all countries.
The first round of play at the All England Club wraps up Tuesday, with six-time women’s champion Serena Williams and top-ranked American man John Isner among those in action.