Five-time champion Roger Federer put his growing army of doubters firmly in their place by storming into the Wimbledon second round on Monday.
Top seed Federer took just 79 minutes to brush off injury-plagued Slovakian and close friend Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the second round, where he will face tricky Swede Robin Soderling.
Third seed Novak Djokovic, who relieved Federer of his Australian Open title in January and is scheduled to meet the world No. 1 in what could be a blockbuster semi-final, needed four sets to see off Germany’s Michael Berrer.
PHOTO: EPA
Djokovic won 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 and will face either Russia’s Marat Safin, a former world No. 1, or Fabio Fognini of Italy in the next round.
Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, the last man to win the title before Federer went on his run of five-in-a-row, was taken to five sets by Dutchman Robin Haase.
The 27-year-old Australian won 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (1/7), 6-2 and will face Albert Montanes of Spain.
PHOTO: AP
Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian, who was the runner-up to Hewitt six years ago, became the biggest casualty of the day when he slumped to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Canada’s Frank Dancevic. Federer, who strolled onto Centre Court sporting a 1920s-style cardigan, devastatingly illustrated that reports of his demise were premature with his confident win under bright blue skies.
It was also a 60th consecutive grasscourt victory for Federer, whose last Grand Slam appearance ended in utter humiliation at the hands of Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.
Federer, bidding to win a record sixth successive Wimbledon title and unbeaten on grass for six years, admitted it was a relief to be back at the familiar surroundings of the All England Club.
PHOTO: AP
“Every time you walk out the grass is perfect. The roof is back on and that looks more natural and the sun was out,” said the Swiss, who insisted he has not paid any attention to those people writing him off as a spent force.
“I haven’t read or listened to any of it. I was concentrating on winning in Halle [his fifth grasscourt title in the German city]. I played really well and it was great fun against one of my good friends on the tour,” said Federer, who didn’t face a break point in the match.
Djokovic, a semi-finalist last year, was happy to get through his opener.
“First matches can be tricky. I was trying to get used to the conditions. I played better towards the end of it but in general there were some bad aspects in the second set,” the Serbian said.
Hewitt, the 20th seed, said he was still feeling the hip injury which restricted his claycourt campaign to just the French Open.
Hewitt famously lost in the first round here in 2003, but his conqueror that day, Ivo Karlovic, again failed to translate his big serve into success. For the second year in succession, the 18th-seeded Croatian followed his title victory in the Nottingham event with a first round loss here with Germany’s Simon Stadler pulling off a 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-5 win.
Women’s top seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, fresh from her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open, was in cruise control seeing off Paraguay’s Rosanna de los Rios, the world 103, 6-1, 6-2.
The 20-year-old now faces French veteran Nathalie Dechy for a place in the third round.
Ivanovic, who took the world No. 1 spot with her victory in Paris, said she was thriving on the pressure of being the top player.
“Obviously there are different ways of dealing with pressure. Becoming No. 1, it takes more pressure, but also you have to see pressure for what it is. It’s a reflection of your own ambition,” she said.
Serena Williams, the champion in 2002 and 2003, progressed with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 win over Estonian French Open quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi. The US sixth seed will now face Poland’s Urszula Radwanska for a place in the last 32.
Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, a former US Open champion who has never got beyond the quarter-finals here, struggled to get past French qualifier Mathilde Johansson 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-3.
Other seeds were not so fortunate, with Swiss 12th seed Patty Schnyder, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, French duo Virginie Razzano and Alize Cornet as well as Russia’s Maria Kirilenko all making exits.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB