Wimbledon: Smooth Progress For Federer, Roddick

Federer eases through into the second term

Third seed Roger Federer has improved his Wimbeldon record to 56-6 when he ousted Mikhail Kukushkin in three sets, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the opening day to meet Adrian Mannarino in the next term.

The opener saw the two opponents go head to head until the tie-break which the 29-year-old Swiss won very easily, leaving the Kazak five mine breaks adrift. As for the second set, it found the same Federer grabbing a precious break in the sixth game of the term, something which helped him to propel through and build the 2-0 lead. Things were getting even much easier for the Swiss the game progressed, the second six-time winner managing to grab to more breaks in the decider to take a 5-1 lead at one point and close out the match with an easy win.

Said the former world champion: “It feels like if things go well for me, I can go extremely far here; whereas at Roland Garros. I feel it’s a bit more on mine. That’s why I’ll always play with some pressure here at Wimbledon just because of the occasion and what it means to me really. I was nervous going out in today’s match really.” Federer will next meet exhausted Adrian Mannrino who has made the progress into the next round thanks to a five-set win over Conor Niland of Ireland whom the French edged after surviving an early scare, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Andy Roddick has also speeded into the second term after eliminating Andreas Beck in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3. The former top ten American managed to steal a precious late break in the opener to go 1-0 ahead after just over half an hour, while the second set found the German pushing the term into the breaker which he eventually lost at the death, at six. Finally, the decider highlighted the same Roddick taking things under control and playing more consistently. He broke Beck twice in the third and the last game to progress further.

Andy will next meet Romania’s Victor Hanescu who eased past Jaroslav Pospisil in three sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. On Monday, fourth seed Andy Murray, who will be struggling to become the first Briton at Wimbledon, needed four sets to eliminate Daniel Gimeno whom the Scott eventually defeated after an early scare, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. Next up to him is Tobias Kamke who overcame Blaz Kavcic 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 in the opening term.

Tomas Berdych is to meet Julien Benneteau after the Czech eased past Filippo Volandri 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. His next opponent edged Ruben Bemelmans in a five-set marathon 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1. US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro has made a smooth progress when the Argentine crashed Flavio Cipolla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. Second favorite Novak Djokovic is to make his debut in front of French Jeremy Chardy, the Serb being rated as a main favorite on the drawn, given his seven titles won this year.

World champion Rafa Nadal has already flown into the second round after upsetting Michael Russell 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 on Monday. Another favorite, David Ferrer, winner of the Auckland and Acapulco events, eased past Benoit Paire in three similar sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to meet Ryan Harrison in the second round. The American has provided one of the biggest surprises of the opening day after stunning Zagreb Indoors champion Ivan Dodig in straight sets, 7-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Next fixtures:

Gilles Muller – Milos Raonic

Dudi Sela – Gilles Simon

Mardy Fish – Denis Istonim

Robin Haase – Fernando Verdasco

Juan Ignacio Chela – Alex Bogomolov Jr.

Sergiy Stakhovsky – Ivan Ljubicic

Richard Gasquet – Igor Kunitsyn

Simone Bolelli – Stanislas Wawrinka

Gael Monfils – Grega Zemlja

Lukasz Kubot – Ivo Karlovic

Rainer Schuttler – Feliciano Lopez

Karol Beck – Guillermo Garcia Lopez

Fernando Gonzalez – Rik de Voest

Nicolas Almagro – John Isner

Somdev Devvarman – Mikhail Youzhny

David Nalbandian – Andreas Haider Maurer

Robin Soderling – Lleyton Hewitt

Igor Andreev – Bernard Tomic

Florian Mayer – Xavier Malisse

Viktor Troicki – Yen Hsun Lu

Ricardo Mello – Michael Llodra

Marcos Baghdatis – Anderas Seppi

Wimbledon Prize Money and points:

Winner – 1,100,000 pounds and 2000 points ATP

Runner-up – 550,000 pounds and 1,200 points ATP

Semi finalist – 275,000 pounds and 720 points ATP

Quarter finalist – 137,500 pounds and 360 points ATP

R16 – 68,750 pounds and 180 points ATP

R32 – 34,375 pounds and 90 points ATP

R64 – 20,125 pounds and 45 points ATP

R128 – 11,500 pounds and 10 points ATP11