Wimbledon—London, England
Defending champion Novak Djokovic overcame a slow start in defensive of his Wimbledon title on Monday, defeating former No. 1 and French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
Trailing 2-1 in the first set—understandably feeling the pressure of defending his title—Djokovic found his footwork and service rhythm to pick up his second victory over the Spaniard in three meetings.
Striking 13 aces and winning 66 percent of his first serve points, Djokovic broke serve on six occasions and hit 34 winners to 19 unforced errors.
The top ranked Serb will next face either Ryan Harrison, who dismissed Yen-Hsun Lu, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Elsewhere, six-time former winner Roger Federer breezed into the second-round after an easy 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Albert Ramos. Never in danger of losing his momentum, Federer ventured into the net on many occasions, winning 25 of 34 points. Chasing a record-tying seventh title, Federer will next face Fabio Fognini, who defeated Michael Llorda in four sets.
In other first-round matches, Janko Tipsarevic, Fernando Verdasco, Viktor Troicki and Julien Bennteau all advanced.
No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych and No. 11 John Isner were ousted by Ernests Gulbis and Alejandro Falla, respectively. Gulbis defeated Berdcyh 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 7-5(4) and Falla gutted past Isner, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-7(7), 7-5.
Tuesday’s action in England will include Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
