Federer, Djokovic survive; Roddick rolls at Wimbledon

Tennis Betting Lines

06/21/2010 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six-time champion Roger Federer was on the ropes but managed to avoid an opening-round shocker against game Colombian Alejandro Falla at Wimbledon on Monday. Novak Djokovic, like Federer, also needed all five sets to move on, and last year's runner-up Andy Roddick joined the parade into the second round on Day 1.

The 60th-ranked Falla stunned Federer by winning the first two sets on Day 1 and served for the match in the fourth set, but the super Swiss staved off his Colombian counterpart to record a gutsy 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 victory on the famed Centre Court at the storied All England Club.

The reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Federer found a way to win on a day where he clearly was not at his best. He avoided losing in the first round here for the first time in eight years.

"I live another day," Federer said. "This one is one I should have lost. That's sometimes how grass-court tennis works."

The lefthanded Falla played the match of his life on Monday, which included the unlikely two-sets-to-none lead.

The 26-year-old Colombian played some brilliant baseline tennis for the first four sets. He broke the mighty Federer with a backhand volley in the first set to grab a 6-5 lead, and then held serve to capture the opening stanza.

In the second set, the surprising South American recorded another huge break when the world No. 2 Federer netted a forehand on his way to a 3-4 deficit. Falla consolidated the break on his way to a stunning 6-4 set victory. Federer saved a pair of set points, at 4-5 in the second, but Falla ultimately prevailed on a fourth set point with a forehand volley winner.

After going up by two sets, Falla summoned a trainer to work on his left leg, which required treatment on a couple of occasions in the opening-day showdown.

In the third set, Falla had chance to break for a 5-4 lead, but the Swiss great, down love-40 at one point, wound up saving four break points to assume a 5-4 lead. Federer then broke Falla to win the third set, which he did with a timely forehand winner.

In the fourth set, Falla broke for a 1-0 lead, but Federer held tough and would get the break back nine games later to pull even at 5-all. Falla was serving for the match, leading at 5-4.

The 16-time major champion Federer managed to force a fourth-set tiebreak, which he won easily, and then dominated the fifth set at love to breath a sigh of relief. The Basel native wound up winning 10 of the last 11 games.

This marked Federer's sixth career win after falling behind two-sets-to-love.

"He played great," Federer said. "He was the one who put me in that kind of a score. I thought I was actually playing decent. Credit to him."

Federer, who tallied seven double faults on Monday, needed 3 hours, 18 minutes to advance, which he did with the help of 21 aces and five service breaks. Falla settled for three breaks in the tough setback.

The 28-year-old Federer is now 3-0 versus Falla this season, including a second-round victory at the French Open four weeks ago.

Federer improved to 52-5 lifetime at the All England Club.

The top-seeded Federer has appeared in the last seven finals here, winning six of them. He beat Roddick in last year's memorable finale, which featured a grueling 30-game fifth set. With the win last year, Federer became the men's all-time leader with a 15th major title.

Federer's second-round opponent on Wednesday will be unheralded Serb Ilia Bozoljac.

The third-seeded Djokovic outlasted diminutive Belgian Olivier Rochus 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 under the roof at Centre Court. The players left the court for about a half-an-hour following the third set as the roof was closed and the indoor climate control was kicked into gear.

The roof was closed in order for the lights to be turned on, as the longest- ever day at Wimbledon finally concluded at 10:59 pm local time.

Djokovic prevailed on his first match point, which was an unreturnable serve, as he won the last six games to come out on top.

The 23-year-old Djokovic and Rochus battled for 3 hours, 51 minutes. The Serbian star whacked 17 aces among his whopping 96 winners, but he also piled up 12 double faults. The Serb struck 63 more winners than Rochus, but still needed all five sets to move on.

Djokovic also broke Rochus' serve on nine occasions, compared to seven breaks for the Belgian loser.

Up next for Djokovic will be serve-and-volleying American Taylor Dent, who beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in four sets.

The fifth-seeded Roddick cruised past fellow American Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The former world No. 1 and former U.S. Open champion Roddick has lost to Federer in three of the last six finals here.

Roddick fired 13 aces at Ram, who failed to enjoy even one break-point chance against his fellow countryman.

The 27-year-old Roddick's second-round opponent will be last week's Eastbourne grass-court titlist Michael Llodra of France.

Seventh-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, like Federer and Djokovic, was also in survival mode on Day 1, as the speedy star came from way behind to outlast big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 9-7. The gritty Russian needed 4 hours, 13 minutes to advance, and withstood 36 aces from the 6-foot-8 Anderson.

Davydenko is still on the mend after suffering a broken wrist earlier this season. The Russian, who typically struggles on grass, has never gotten past the fourth round here.

Up next for Davydenko will be German Daniel Brands.

Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt came from behind to win his opener 5-7, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 against Argentine Maximo Gonzalez. The two-time major titlist and former world No. 1 Hewitt titled here in 2002.

The 15th-seeded Hewitt stunned Federer in a grass-court final in Halle two weeks ago, as the Aussie halted a personal 15-match losing skid at the hands of the sublime Swiss.

Hewitt's second-round opponent will be Russian Evgeny Korolev.

In other action involving top-16 seeds, German Florian Mayer toppled No. 11 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), No. 12 Czech Tomas Berdych blitzed Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-2 and No. 16 Austrian Jurgen Melzer topped Jamaican Dustin Brown 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The Croatian Cilic was an Aussie Open semifinalist back in January. Melzer reached the French Open semis earlier this month.

Mild upsets came when Poland's Michal Przysiezny took out 17th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin dismissed 20th- seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 and Aussie Peter Luczak overcame 30th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 7-5. The former top-five star Ljubicic has never advanced beyond the third round here.

Other seeded Day-1 winners were No. 21 Frenchman Gael Monfils, No. 22 Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, No. 28 Spaniard Albert Montanes, No. 29 German Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 31 Romanian Victor Hanescu. Lopez dismissed American Jesse Levine in four sets.

Several other men posted opening-round wins, including the aforementioned Llodra, Americans Dent and Mardy Fish, German Rainer Schuettler, and Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

The first round will resume here on Tuesday, including matches for French Open champion Rafael Nadal, fourth-seeded Aussie Open runner-up Andy Murray and sixth-seeded Roland Garros runner-up Robin Soderling.

The world No. 1 Nadal, who's seeded second here behind his great rival Federer, will face Japan's Kei Nishikori on Day 2, wile Murray will face Czech Jan Hajek and Soderling will battle American Robby Ginepri.

The seven-time major champion Nadal titled here in 2008 and was the runner-up to Federer in 2006 and 2007. The Spaniard outlasted Federer in perhaps the greatest tennis match of all-time in the finale here two years ago, and missed last year's edition of the prestigious event because of knee problems.

Other top-10 seeds seeing action on Tuesday will be No. 8 Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, No. 9 Spaniard David Ferrer and No. 10 Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.