Federer, Roddick advance at Olympics
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Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and resurgent American Andy Roddick were a pair of winners Monday at the London Olympic Games.
The top-ranked Federer captured his ninth win at the All England Club since last month with a 58-minute 6-2, 6-2 second-round spanking of Julien Benneteau. The Frenchman held match points against the Swiss icon on the famed grass courts here last month before Federer prevailed in a five-set Wimbledon affair on Centre Court.
Federer edged out Benneteau under the roof on Centre Court last month.
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"I was able to put in another solid performance today," Federer said. "There was a bit of a swirly wind and I think he might have struggled a little bit with his serve in these conditions, whereas indoors it is straightforward and you can get great rhythm."
Federer, who captured a men's-record-tying seventh Wimbledon title in this London suburb earlier this month, needs an Olympic gold medal to complete a career "Golden Slam."
Up next for Federer will be Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, who overcame Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
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Federer also played some doubles on Monday, as he and Stan Wawrinka, seeded sixth, outlasted Japan's Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4. Federer and Wawrinka are the reigning Olympic doubles gold medallists.
Meanwhile, the surging former No. 1 Roddick posted his 12th win in 13 matches with a 7-5, 6-4 opening-round victory over Slovak Martin Klizan.
The three-time Wimbledon runner-up Roddick recently titled in Eastbourne and Atlanta. The American slugger will meet Aussie and U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic in the round of 32 on Tuesday. The former top-ranked Serbian star Djokovic was a bronze medalist in Beijing in 2008.
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In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 7 Serb Janko Tipsarevic fought back to beat German Philipp Petzschner 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; No. 8 Argentine Juan Martin del Potro erased Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); No. 10 American John Isner topped Tunisian Malek Jaziri 7-6 (7-1), 6-2; No. 11 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro drubbed Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-2, 6-2; and No. 12 Frenchman Gilles Simon drove out promising Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-3. The 2009 U.S. Open champion del Potro will battle Simon in the round of 16.
In some other first-round action involving seeds, No. 9 recent Hamburg champ Juan Monaco of Argentina handled Belgian David Goffin 6-4, 6-1, No. 13 Croat Marin Cilic dismissed Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, and No. 16 Frenchman Richard Gasquet doused last week's Kitzbuehel titlist Robin Haase 6-3, 6-3.
Another second-round result saw Belgian Steve Darcis defeat Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4.
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Also in the opening round on Day 3, former Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus outlasted the aforementioned Soeda 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; rising Canadian Milos Raonic bested Japanese Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-4; Spain's Feliciano Lopez came back to beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 9-7; former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia edged out Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Slovenian Blaz Kavcic dropped Indian Vishnu Vardhan 6-3, 6-2; and Russian Nikolay Davydenko clipped Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-3. Hewitt was a Wimbledon titlist at the All England Club in 2002.
In addition to Djokovic-Roddick, Tuesday's second-round schedule will also feature a match for British favorite, third-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Andy Murray, who will be opposed by Finn Jarkko Nieminen.