Radwanska crashes out of Olympics

REUTERS

World number two Agnieszka Radwanska suffered a miserable return to Wimbledon on Sunday as she lost in the first round of the Olympic tennis tournament.

London – World number two Agnieszka Radwanska suffered a miserable return to Wimbledon on Sunday as Olympic Games tennis was played indoors for the first time in 100 years.

Second seeded Radwanska, defeated by Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final three weeks ago, suffered more Centre Court disappointment as she was beaten 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 by Germany's Julia Goerges in the first round.

Hail and heavy rain had drenched the All England Club in south-west London just as play was set to get underway with organisers deciding to shut the Centre Court roof.

It was the first time Olympic tennis has been played indoors since the Stockholm Games of 1912.

Radwanska, 23, was the first Pole to reach a Grand Slam singles final since 1939 when she got to this year's Wimbledon title match, an achievement which lifted her to a career-high second place in the world rankings.

But she was unable to recapture that magic under the Olympic banner and stumbled to a lacklustre first round defeat.

Goerges, who served 20 aces and hit 56 winners, will play Varvara Lepchenko of the United States or Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg in the last 32.

The 24th-ranked German broke in the opening game of the match and recovered from dropping her own serve in the seventh game by landing the decisive break at 5-5.

Goerges, 23, quickly closed out the set before Radwanska finally began to find some rhythm as she won the second set in a tie-break.

Radwanska had a chance to kill off Goerges when she broke early in the final set, but she couldn't maintain her momentum and the German made her pay with two breaks to seal an impressive win.

Later Sunday, world number two Novak Djokovic was up against Italy's Fabio Fognini while Maria Sharapove, the Wimbledon champion in 2004, was facing Israel's Shahar Peer.

British hope Andy Murray was to play Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka. – AFP