Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Flashy Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
and on-the-mend American Mardy Fish posted first-round victories Tuesday at
The Championships, Wimbledon.
The fifth-seeded former Australian Open runner-up Tsonga whipped fading Aussie
star Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Court 1 at the All England Club. The two-
time major titlist Hewitt is a former world No. 1 and was the Wimbledon
champion back in 2002.
Tsonga was a semifinalist here a year ago.
The 10th-seeded Fish handled 34-year-old Spanish clay-courter Ruben Ramirez
Hidalgo 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) on Court 12. Ramirez Hidalgo was the oldest
player in the men's draw here.
Fish serve-and-volleyed his way past Ramirez Hidalgo, striking 43 more winners
(61-18), including 24 aces, than his overmatched Spanish counterpart.
The 30-year-old Fish had been sidelined with fatigue-like symptoms since late
March and underwent a medical procedure called a cardiac catheter ablation to
correct a heart problem, which involved misfiring electrical pulses in his
heart.
Fish was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year.
Meanwhile, 12th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro outlasted diminutive Belgian
Olivier Rochus 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-4 in a match that was
suspended because of darkness on Monday, and Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen
took out 14th-seeded Spanish fellow lefthander Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-4), 3-6,
7-6 (7-5), 6-4. Almagro survived Rochus in 3 hours, 24 minutes with the help
of a whopping 48 aces.
In other action involving seeds, No. 19 rising Japanese Kei Nishikori
bested Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, Belgian David Goffin
upset No. 20 Aussie Bernard Tomic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and No. 22 Ukrainian
Alexandr Dolgopolov handled Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. The
talented Tomic was a surprise Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year.
The Sports Network