Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Five-time champion and 2008 runner-up Roger Federer was an easy opening-round winner Monday at The Championships, Wimbledon. Former Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic also reached the second round at the year's third Grand Slam event.
The second-seeded Federer handled Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 on the famed Centre Court at the All England Club.
The reigning French and U.S. Open titlist Federer rolled in 1 hour, 45 minutes with the help of 10 aces and five service breaks. The Swiss great fired 27 more winners (42-15) in the predictable victory, one in which his serve was broken only once.
Federer lost his serve to fall behind 2-3 in the first set, but he broke right back, broke again in the final game of the stanza and simply cruised after that to improve to 45-5 here all-time.
"I'm very happy with my first round," Federer said. "I thought it was a very solid performance."
The former No. 1 Federer was upset in last year's final by Rafael Nadal in what many feel was the greatest tennis match of all-time. It halted Federer's 40-match winning streak here and stopped the super Swiss' 65-match grass-court winning streak.
Nadal decided against defending his title this year, citing sore knees. In addition to beating Federer in last year's Wimbledon finale, Nadal also bested the Swiss in this year's Australian Open final.
Last month, Federer captured his first-ever French Open title to become the sixth man in history to complete a career Grand Slam and equal Pete Sampras with a men's record-tying 14th major title.
Federer's second-round opponent will be Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The fourth-seeded Djokovic dropped the first set against dangerous Frenchman Julien Benneteau before charging back for a 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-4 decision. Djokovic reached the semifinals here two years ago.
Up next for Djokovic will be German Simon Greul.
Seventh-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco whipped Brit James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, while ninth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga held off Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 11th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic drilled Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, 13th-seeded French Open runner- up Robin Soderling overcame Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2, and 15th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo snuck past Slovenian Luka Gregorc 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3). The Swedish Soderling shocked Nadal in the fourth round at Roland Garros last month and wound up finishing as the runner- up in Paris to the amazing Federer.
The first upset of The Championships occurred when Italian Andreas Seppi drove out 17th-seeded American James Blake 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). It appeared as though Blake was going to extend the match into a fourth set, as he held a seemingly-commanding 5-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak, but Seppi charged back to win seven straight points and eliminate the struggling American.
Blake has never advanced beyond the third round at the AEC.
Other seeded winners on Day 1 were No. 18 German Rainer Schuettler, No. 22 Croat Ivo Karlovic, No. 27 German Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 28 American Mardy Fish, No. 29 Russian Igor Andreev and No. 32 Spaniard Albert Montanes. Fish was leading Sergio Roitman 6-3, 6-2, 4-1 when his Argentine counterpart retired.
A mild upset came when Slovakian Karol beck took out 21st-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8.
Several other men reached the second round, including Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, Argentine Guillermo Canas and Americans Sam Querrey and Vincent Spadea.
Former top-10 star Ivan Ljubicic pulled out here on Monday, citing an ankle injury. He was replaced in the draw by lucky-loser Danai Udomchoke, who lost to Querrey 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
The first round will resume here on Tuesday, including matches for third- seeded British hopeful Andy Murray and two-time runner-up Andy Roddick. The U.S. Open runner-up Murray will battle American Robert Kendrick, while the sixth-seeded Roddick will encounter Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Tuesday's schedule will also feature matches for fifth-seeded Argentine slugger Juan Martin del Potro, 2008 semifinalist Marat Safin and former Wimbledon champ Lleyton Hewitt. Del Potro will face 2008 quarterfinalist Arnaud Clement, while a 14th-seeded former world No. 1 Safin will battle American Jesse Levine and the 2002 Wimbledon champion Hewitt will encounter American Robby Ginepri.