Wimbledon: Ashleigh Barty's wobbly win

Ashleigh Barty returns to Carla Suarez Navarro during their first-round match at Wimbledon in London yesterday. Pic/AFP

Ashleigh Barty's bid to win Wimbledon, half a century after fellow indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley won her first singles title, got off to a winning start on Tuesday with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro.

Barty, 25, top seed has never been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon but two breaks of serve in the first set and then one at 4-4 in the second seemed to have set her up with a routine victory. However, with errors creeping into Barty's game Spaniard Suarez Navarro broke back and the set went into a tie-break.

Carla Suarez Navarro

Suarez Navarro - who has only returned to play in recent months after battling cancer - dominated it and held five set points taking it with the first one 7-6.

Injury worry

Barty, though, pulled herself together and played more like the World No. 1 she is in the deciding set. She showed little sign of the hip injury that forced her to retire from the French Open and made no mistake when holding three match points, taking victory with her first one. Barty praised Suarez Navarro, 32, after she had walked off court to a standing ovation on what is her 11th and final appearance at The Championships.

"It was incredible to share the court with Carla after her incredible career got a little bit longer," said Barty. "She is a fighter, an incredible competitor and lovely person and I cannot find one bad word to say about her. She is a genuine champion and will be sorely missed."

Victory for Venus

Earlier, Venus Williams, 41, marked her record 90th Grand Slam appearance with a three-set victory over Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania. The American triumphed 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. The former World No. 1 first played Wimbledon in 1997 and is making her 23rd appearance at the tournament.

Zverev advances

Meanwhile, Germany's Alexander Zverev eased into the second round of Wimbledon on Tuesday beating Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 in just 89 minutes.

Also Read: Kane Williamson: Team India is a formidable and truly great side

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever