Federer opens with easy win at Wimbledon

Wimbledon, England – Reigning champion and seven-time overall winner Roger Federer was first up on Centre Court Monday and promptly cruised to an easy opening-round victory at The Championships, Wimbledon.

The third-seeded former world No. 1 superstar leveled Romanian veteran Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 in a mere 69 minutes on the famed grass at the All England Club. Federer improved to 67-7 lifetime at Wimbledon by striking seven aces, breaking Hanescu six times and holding his quality serve throughout the brief affair.

"It's a special moment," Federer said of striding out onto Centre Court. "It doesn't really change. You feel very unique because you are the one opening the court."

The 17-time Grand Slam king Federer beat British favorite Andy Murray in last year's Wimbledon final to tie Pete Sampras for the most men's titles here in the Open Era.

"He seems the most natural on this surface of the other guys," Federer said of Murray. "To me Andy sort of stands out a little bit over the others."

Federer's second-round opponent on Wednesday will be Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Meanwhile, sixth-seeded former Aussie Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga topped Belgian David Goffin 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3 and 10th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic dismissed former Aussie Open runner-up and former Wimbledon semifinalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The French Tsonga reached the semifinals in his last two trips to the AEC. Cilic was a grass-court runner-up at the Wimbledon tune-up at Queen's Club two weeks ago.

Viktor Troicki took out 14th-seeded fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), while towering 18th-seeded American John Isner got past Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), and 20th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny dismissed Dutchman Robin Haase 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

In other Day-1 action involving seeds, No. 22 Argentine Juan Monaco whipped German Bastian Knittel 6-4, 6-2, 6-3; No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland pasted Brit Kyle Edmund 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; No. 25 Benoit Paire of France topped Romanian Adrian Ungur 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; and veteran Austrian left-hander Jurgen Melzer upended No. 30 Italian Fabio Fognini 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.