Isner wins marathon match with Mahut
LONDON, June 24 (UPI) -- John Isner came away the winner Thursday over Nicolas Mahut in their record-setting Wimbledon first-round match.
The match was twice -- first Tuesday and then Wednesday -- suspended because of darkness and finished Thursday when Isner got his second service break of the match and took a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 70-68 decision.
The match set records for time at 11 hours, 5 minutes and games with 183. The previous marks were 6 hours, 33 minutes for time and 112 for games. The Isner-Mahut fifth set last 8 hours, 11 minutes.
Isner, the No. 23 seed, ended with the record for aces in a match -- 112 -- but Mahut is second on the list with his 103 against Isner. The previous mark there was 78. Isner had 84 and Mahut 77 aces in the fifth set alone.
Mahut had an impressive 39 unforced errors -- very low considering how fatigued the players must have been -- and actually won more points (502-478) than Isner in the match.
But Mahut only managed three break-point chances and converted one -- way back in the second set. Isner got his second break of the match on his 14th break-point opportunity. His other break was in the first set Tuesday.
Isner advances to a second-round match Friday against Thiemo De Bakker, whose first-round match Wednesday ended in a 16-14 fifth set.
S. Williams takes second-rounder in rout
LONDON, June 24 (UPI) -- No. 1-ranked Serena Williams lost just one game in rolling to a second-round victory Thursday at Wimbledon.
Williams claimed a 6-0, 6-1 win over Anna Chakvetadze in just 49 minutes. Williams, the tournament's defending champion, won the first 11 games before Chakvetadze was able to avoid the shutout.
Williams won 68 percent of the points in the match and took more points on Chakvetadze's serve (23-13) than Chakvetadze.
Third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki also breezed into the third round, dropping Kai-Chen Chang 6-4, 6-3 behind an effort that had only 11 unforced errors.
Seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska roared by Alberta Brianti 6-2, 6-0 and No. 9-seeded Na Li stopped Kurumi Nara 6-2, 6-4 in just more than an hour while 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta ripped Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-1.
No. 14-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who beat Bojana Jovanovski, and 16th-seeded Maria Sharapova, who dispatched Ioana Raluca Olaru, both won by scores of 6-1, 6-4.
Klara Zakopalova defeated No. 18-seeded Aravane Rezai 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; Anastasia Rodionova ousted 19th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; and Petra Kvitova took out 23rd-seeded Jie Zheng 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the day's upsets.
Other seeded players moving into the third round were No. 29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 31st-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru and No. 32 Sara Errani.
Unseeded winners Thursday were Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Kaia Kanepi and Dominika Cibulkova.
Dredge, Whiteford lead European Tour event
MUNICH, Germany, June 24 (UPI) -- Bradley Dredge and Peter Whiteford each shot 8-under-par 64 Thursday and share the first-round lead at the European Tour's BMW International Open in Germany.
Both Dredge and Whiteford had six birdies and an eagle on a day that saw 96 golfers break par. Ariel Canete, Jeppe Huldahl, Chapchai Nirat and Phillip Price are tied for third at 7-under while Pablo Larrazabal and Peter Lawrie are both two strokes off the pace and eight other golfers finished at 5-under 67.
Whiteford played the second nine first Thursday and was 3-under at the turn. He added birdies at Nos. 2 and 4 before an eagle -- when he dropped a 6-foot putt -- at the par-5 481-yard sixth hole. He capped the round with a birdie at his final hole.
Dredge opened his round with a birdie at the first hole and added back-to-back birdies at Nos. 6-7. His eagle came at the par-5 556-yard 11th hole. He finished with three consecutive birdies.
"There was virtually no wind and I think it's the easiest I've played the course," said Dredge. "I'm surprised there are not more low scores. You always need a bit of luck. I hit some poor shots, but managed to get away with them. I do feel my game is getting back together and it is a matter of consistency at the moment."
WORLD CUP: Japan 3, Denmark 1
RUSTENBURG, South Africa, June 24 (UPI) -- First-half goals from Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo carried Japan to a 3-1 win Thursday over Denmark and into the World Cup elimination round.
Japan entered Thursday's game even with Denmark in the Group E standings but had the tie-breaker edge over the Danes. The win made the tie-breakers unnecessary as Japan ended group play 2-1-0 and Denmark 1-2-0.
The Netherlands (3-0-0) won the group while Cameroon (0-3-0) was fourth.
Japan next goes against Group F first-place finisher Paraguay on Sunday.
Both of the Japanese first-half goals came on direct free kicks.
Honda's came from right of the goal, with his 17th-minute kick crossing the length of the goal and ending up in the left side of the net, beyond the reach of a diving Dane goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.
In the 30th minute, Endo set up on the left of the field and sent a bending kick just inside the right goal post.
Denmark got on the board in the 81st minute when Jon Dahl Tomasson had his penalty kick try saved by Japan's Eiji Kawashima but Tomasson was able to finish off the rebound.
It took only about 6 minutes after that, however, for Japan to make it 3-1 when Honda drew out Sorensen and passed to an open Shinji Okazaki for an easy goal.
