Davydenko crashes to Becker

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko became the biggest casualty of this year’s Wimbledon so far as the Russian suffered a disappointing straight sets defeat to Germany’s world number 116 Benjamin Becker.

Davydenko’s 6-4 6-4 6-4 loss was his fifth first-round exit in seven appearances at the All England Club, although his best run had come last year when he reached the last 16.

However, it was back business as usual on Court Two today as Becker – hardly brimming with grand slam pedigree having lost in the first round of his last six majors – made a mockery of Davydenko’s lofty ranking.

The German seized control of the match from the start, serving consistently and never once losing his advantage as he marched into the second round.