Wimbledon, England – American Mardy Fish posted a first- round victory Tuesday at The Championships, Wimbledon.
The 10th seed handled 34-year-old Spanish clay-courter Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) on Court 12 at the All England Club. Ramirez Hidalgo was the oldest player in the men's draw.
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 wound up having a medical procedure called a cardiac catheter ablation to correct a heart problem, which involved misfiring electrical pulses in his heart.
He was a quarterfinalist here a year ago.
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 here 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.
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