Wimbledon 2021 Results: Serena Williams Withdraws With Leg Injury, Roger Federer Survives Scare to Reach 2nd Round; Ashleigh Barty, Alexander Zverev Advance

Williams’ dreams of winning an eighth Wimbledon singles title and equalling Margaret Court’s Grand Slam record ended in tears when she slipped at the Centre Court on Tuesday.

Roger Federer, former world No. 1, enjoyed a bit of fortune before advancing to the second round after his French opponent Adrian Mannarino retired due to injury at the end of the fourth set with the scores level at two sets apiece at the Centre Court. The opening round contest was poised at 6-4, 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-2 with Federer forcing a fifth set before Mannarino, celebrating his 33rd birthday, retired with a knee injury after slipping on the court.

In another major development on day 2 of Wimbledon, American legend Serena Williams forced to retire in the first round after sustaining an apparent injury. Williams was leading 3-1 against the world No 11 Aliaksandra Sasnovich when she turned her left ankle badly. Despite having a medical timeout, and returning to court for a few further points, the 23-time Grand Slam champion was unable to continue.

We’re heartbroken for you, Serena.

Our seven-time singles champion is forced to retire from The Championships 2021 through injury#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/vpcW1UN78s

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 29, 2021

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old Federer bagged the first set 6-4 before losing the next two 6-7(3) and 3-6. He came back to win the fourth 6-2 in a games that lasted two hours and 44 minutes. World No. 41 Mannarino, who was able to get through to the fourth set with the injury before pulling out, had slipped behind the baseline which led to the injury.

The Frenchman received medical attention on Centre Court and limped back to complete the set before shaking hands with Federer, who now has a 7-0 head-to-head record against him.

“It is awful. It shows that one shot can change the outcome of a match, a season, a career,” said Federer after the match.

“I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers quickly so we see him back on the courts. He could have won the match at the end. Obviously, he was the better player, so I definitely got a bit lucky,” added Federer.

Our heart goes out to you, @AdrianMannarino – it was a performance to be proud of and we wish you a speedy recovery#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/0uREBcRcrc

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 29, 2021

Federer, who currently ranked eighth in the world, is eyeing his 21st Grand Slam title to go clear of Rafael Nadal, who too has won 20 Grand Slam titles.

In other men’s singles matches, young stars – Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev also advanced to the second round at the All England Championships. Fourth seed Zverev began his quest for a maiden Grand Slam title with an easy 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old slammed 20 aces and won 77 percent of his first-service points to progress into the second round in 94 minutes.

On the other hand, Medvedev and Struff pushed each other to the brink as the match concluded 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in favor of the second seed Russian.

Zverev will next face the winner of the match between Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos and American Tennys Sandgren.

In the other women’s singles matches – world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and world No. 13 Karolina Pliskova were stretched in their first-round matches before advancing at the Wimbledon 2021 on Tuesday.

While Ashleigh defeated Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-1, eighth seed Karolina beat French Open semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 7-5, 6-4.