Wimbledon, England – Reigning champion Novak Djokovic was an easy opening-round winner on Day 1 at The Championships, Wimbledon.
The world No. 1 star throttled former top-ranked Spaniard and two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 on the famed grass on Centre Court at the All England Club. The 32-year-old Ferrero is also a former French Open champ and two-time Grand Slam runner-up.
The 25-year-old Djokovic is now 28-1 over his last five majors and 40-2 over his last seven Slams.
Djokovic reached his first-ever Wimbledon final and captured his first-ever title here with a victory over Rafael Nadal a year ago. Djokovic and Nadal have met in the last four Grand Slam finals, with the Serb winning three of them. Nadal, however, beat Djokovic in the French Open finale three weeks ago.
Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic moved on in surprisingly easy fashion with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory over former top-five star and 2002 Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian of Argentina.
Thirteenth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon was leading fellow Frenchman Paul- Henri Mathieu 6-3, 5-4 when the oft-injured Mathieu retired on Day 1.
In other first-round action involving seeds, No. 17 Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco doused Taiwan's Jimmy Wang, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 7-5; No. 18 Frenchman Richard Gasquet drubbed German Tobias Kamke 6-2, 6-2, 6-2; No. 26 Russian Mikhail Youzhny overcame American Donald Young 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; and No. 29 Frenchman Julien Benneteau topped Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
The 2012 Wimbledon champ will earn $1.79 million.
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