Last year’s runner-up Angelique Kerber began her Wimbledon campaign with a straight-sets victory over world No 247 Irina Falconi yesterday. World No 1 Kerber lost to Serena Williams in the 2016 fi nal but, returning to the Grand Slam as its top seed, started with a 6-4 6-4 win as she opened Tuesday’s action on Centre Court. Germany’s Kerber, earlier this year, became the fi rst women’s top seed to lose in a French Open fi rst round but she enjoyed better luck at Wimbledon. Kerber will next face Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens who was too strong for Japan’s Misaki Doi, winning 6-4 6-3 on Court No 16 to start her campaign with little fuss.
Fourteenth seed Garbine Muguruza is a potential quarter-fi nal opponent for Kerber and she was another comfortable winner on day two at the All-England Club. The Spaniard, a runner-up at Wimbledon in 2015, eased past world no 75 Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2 6-4, while 24th seed Coco Vandeweghe beat Germany Mona Barthel 7-5 6-2 to join the other leading names in the second round. Day one saw Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep, Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina advance as the leading contenders eased through in SW19 but there were some high-profi le exits on Tuesday
