WIMBLEDON — Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Djokovic, playing for the first time since his French Open final defeat to Rafael Nadal, will face America’s Ryan Harrison for a place in the last 32. The world No 1 had seen his hopes of becoming just the third man to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once shattered by his defeat at the hands of Nadal in Paris.
The 25-year-old, playing in a 31st successive Grand Slam tournament, opted to nurse his wounds by holidaying in Scotland rather than playing a grass court warm-up event.
And he looked rusty early on Monday as he opened proceedings on Centre Court, dropping serve to trail the 32-year-old Ferrero, a former world No 1 and ex-French Open champion, 2-1.
But the Serb broke back immediately for 2-2 and went to 5-3 when Ferrero hit a forehand long. An ace gave Djokovic the first set 6-3 before he dominated the second set by the same score as Ferrero, a quarter-finalist in 2007 and 2009, wilted.
Another break in the second game of the third set allowed the Serb to put the Spaniard further onto the defensive and he edged closer to victory with another break to lead 4-0.
Ferrero stopped the rot at 5-1, but another ace gace Djokovic the match in the next game after just 98 minutes on court.
Third seed Roger Federer, meanwhile, beat Spain’s Albert Ramos 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the second round, taking just 79 minutes to kick off his bid for a record-equalling seventh title.
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The six-time champion and record 16-time Grand Slam title winner, will face colourful Italian Fabio Fognini for a place in the last 32.
Federer, shunted out on to Court One for his 2012 opener, fired down nine aces in his straightforward win over left-hander Ramos, the world number 43 who has never won a match on grass.
“The crowd were excited to see us play. I played a good match against a guy who doesn’t have much experience on grass courts,” said the Swiss.
“It was a clean match. I could save energy and it gives you confidence when you close out a match that easily.”
Federer, without a Grand Slam title since the 2010 Australian Open, is bidding to equal Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon titles.
But he has fallen in the quarter-finals in the last two years, losing from two sets to love up for the first time in his career in 2011 when he went down to France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
David Nalbandian hit out in the direction of tennis officials after losing in straight sets in the first round, but this time no physical damage was done.
