Top-seeded Kerber fends off Falconi at Wimbledon

Top-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany took her first step toward potentially returning to the final at Wimbledon with Tuesday’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over American Irina Falconi in London.

The opening match at Centre Court on Day 2 at Wimbledon traditionally features the women’s winner from the previous year, but Serena Williams is taking the rest of 2017 off due to her pregnancy.

Williams bested Kerber in last year’s final, but the latter took the coveted spot on Tuesday and fended off Falconi to avoid another early-round setback. The 29-year-old Kerber lost in the opening round of the French Open just five weeks ago.

Kerber thwarted her spirited challenger on Tuesday to record her first win at a grand slam tournament since falling in the fourth round at the Australian Open in January.

Falconi, who is ranked No. 247 in the world, broke Kerber on one occasion in each set before a double fault handed her foe two break points and a 5-4 lead in the second set. Kerber then put away Falconi, who fell short for the fifth time in as many Wimbledon appearances.

Kerber advances to face Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, who posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over Japan’s Misaki Doi.

Seeded winners on Tuesday included No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, No. 14 Garbine Muguruza of Spain and No. 24 Coco Vandeweghe of the United States.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was not as fortunate as the 16th-seeded Russian fell in three sets to Arina Rodionova. The Australian posted a 3-6, 7-6 (6), 9-7 win over Pavlyuchenkova.

Other seeded players to fall included No. 20 Daria Gavrilova of Australia, No. 23 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, No. 28 Lauren Davis of the United States and No. 30 Zhang Shuai of China.