Wimbledon, England – World No. 1 superstar Novak Djokovic and French Open runner-up David Ferrer were a pair of opening-round winners Tuesday at The Championships, Wimbledon.
The reigning Australian Open champion and U.S. Open runner-up Djokovic handled capable German Florian Mayer in 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 fashion on Centre Court at the storied All England Club. The 6-foot-5 Mayer was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year and back in 2004.
"It was a big pleasure again performing here on Centre Court in front of the packed crowd," Djokovic said. "For the first round, it was tricky. I think Mayer's game is really well suited for grass, so it took a lot of effort."
The six-time Grand Slam champion from Serbia captured his lone Wimbledon title two years ago. His second-round opponent will be American journeyman Bobby Reynolds, who outlasted compatriot Steve Johnson 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 in Monday's final singles outcome.
Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded gritty Spaniard Ferrer had a second-set hiccup in a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory against Argentine Martin Alund. Ferrer appeared to suffer a left ankle injury after taking a spill early in the fourth set on Day 2.
His second-round opponent will be fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Seventh-seeded 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych cruised past Slovak Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, while eighth-seeded former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro dismissed Spaniard Albert Ramos 6-2, 7-5, 6-1, and ninth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet overcame Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. The 6-foot-6 Argentine del Potro beat Djokovic in last year's Olympic bronze-medal match on the grass courts here at the All England Club. Gasquet was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2007.
In other action involving top-16 seeds, No. 12 Kei Nishikori of Japan whipped Aussie Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, No. 13 German Tommy Haas humbled Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, and Croat Ivan Dodig was leading No. 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 2-1 when the German retired from the match.
Big-serving Milos Raonic, the 17th seed from Canada, was an easy 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victor over Argentine Carlos Berlocq, while grass-court-loving Spaniard Feliciano Lopez took out 19th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11). Lopez also beat Simon in the grass-court final in Eastbourne this past weekend.
Additionally, Aussie Bernard Tomic took out 21st-seeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 2-6, 6-3; 23rd-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi outlasted Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 3-6, 6-3; 26th-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov erased Portuguese Gastao Elias 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; 27th-seeded South African Kevin Anderson spanked Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-2, 6-1; 28th-seeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy held off American Ryan Harrison 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; and 29th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov doused Italian Simone Bolelli 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
Several other men notched first-round wins, including Americans James Blake and Denis Kudla, Canadian Jesse Levine, and Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Paul- Henri Mathieu.
The second round will get underway on Wednesday, including matches for second- seeded Andy Murray and third-seeded former world No. 1 Roger Federer. Federer beat Murray in last year's Wimbledon finale to capture his record-tying seventh title here and men's-record 17th overall Grand Slam championship.
The U.S. Open champion Murray will meet Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu, while Federer will encounter Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Also on Wednesday's schedule are sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 10th-seeded Marin Cilic and 18th-seeded American John Isner.
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