WIMBLEDON, England, June 23 (UPI) -- Roger Federer was a straight-set winner Monday, opening his attempt at a sixth-consecutive Wimbledon title with his 60th consecutive grass-court match win.
Federer, the world top-rated men's player, dispatched Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Federer fired 10 aces as he held each of his service games and broke Hrbaty's serve five times.
Federer hasn't lost a match on a grass court since the first round at Wimbledon in 2002 when Mario Ancic beat him. His record includes 35 matches at Wimbledon, where he won titles from 2003-07.
Third-seeded Novak Djokovic also won Monday but needed to overcome a poor second set before putting away Michael Berrer 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Fifth-seeded David Ferrer was ahead 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 1-3 and advanced when Sergiy Stakhovsky retired.
In the biggest upset of the first day at Wimbledon 2008, seventh-seeded David Nalbandian fell 6-,4 6-2, 6-4 to Frank Dancevic.
Tenth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis defeated Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 and No. 11 Tomas Berdych got by Evgeny Korolev 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded 13th, beat Marcos Daniel 6-2, 6-2, 7-5. No. 15 Fernando Gonzalez topped Robby Ginepri 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5 but 18th-seeded Ivo Karlovic fell 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 7-5 to Simon Stadler.
Other seeded players who won Monday included: No. 20 Lleyton Hewitt; No. 21 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 22 Fernando Verdasco, No. 29 Andreas Seppi. No. 32-seeded Michael Llodra was behind Mario Ancic 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 2-0 when he retired.
Bryant tops U.S. Olympic basketball team
CHICAGO, June 23 (UPI) -- NBA Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant was among 12 NBA players selected for the U.S. Olympic basketball team, U.S. Olympic Committee officials said Monday.
Bryant, of the Los Angeles Lakers, will be joined by Cleveland's LeBron James and point guards Jason Kidd of Dallas, Chris Paul of New Orleans and Deron Williams of Utah.
Also selected were guards Dwyane Wade of Miami and Michael Redd of Milwaukee.
The U.S. frontcourt will go with Denver's Carmelo Anthony, Utah's Carlos Boozer, Toronto's Chris Bosh and Detroit's Tayshaun Prince. Orlando's Dwight Howard was the only true center selected for the team.
The United States has won 12 of the 16 men's Olympics gold medals but Argentina is the defending gold medalist.
The 2008 Olympics are scheduled for Aug. 8-24 in China.
Ivanovic an easy winner at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England, June 23 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic won easily but two top eight players faced scares in first-day play Monday in the women's section of The Championships at Wimbledon.
Ivanovic crushed Rossana De Los Rios 6-1, 6-2 in the highlighted women's match Monday. Ivanovic is ranked No. 1 in the world and has advanced to the finals of the last Grand Slam events, including the French Open which she won.
But fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze both needed to rally to get out of the first round. Kuznetsova dropped a first-set tiebreaker before taking a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-3 win from Mathilde Johansson. Chakvetadze fought through three match points before finishing off Stephanie Dubois 2-6, 6-1, 8-6.
Sixth-seeded Serena Williams held her serve through the match in a 7-5, 6-3 first-round win over Kaia Kanepi and No. 12 Patty Schnyder posted a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Casey Dellacqua. No. 18-seeded Nicole Vaidisova matched Ivanovic's performance with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Zuzana Ondraskova.
No. 17 Alize Comet, 19th-seeded Maria Kirilenko, No. 27 Virginie Razzano and 30th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova were all ousted Monday, with only Razzano, who took the first set from Vera Dushevina 6-0, pushing her match to three sets.
Jeter tops AL All-Star vote-getters
NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- New York's Derek Jeter has moved into the lead for all vote-getters in balloting for the American League All-Star team, Major League Baseball officials said.
Jeter has piled up 1,988,251 votes and is just ahead of Boston designated hitter David Ortiz (1,982,786) in overall vote totals released Monday. Jeter's Yankee teammate Alex Rodriguez is third at 1,940,827. Voting at mlb.com continues through July 2.
Jeter, at shortstop, and Rodriguez, at third base, own strong leads at their positions. Ortiz is one of four Red Sox -- first baseman Kevin Youkilis, outfielder Manny Ramirez and second baseman Dustin Pedroia are the others -- leading at their positions.
Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer jumped past Boston catcher Jason Varitek and had about a 45,000-vote lead going into the final 10 days of voting.
Texas' Josh Hamilton and Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki are second and third -- including for starting spots -- among AL outfielders.
The 79th All-Star Game is set for July 15 at New York's Yankee Stadium.
'Bambino Curse' bat to be auctioned
NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- A baseball bat with a direct connection to the "Curse of the Bambino" that hung over the Boston Red Sox for 86 years is set to be auctioned off.
The autographed bat was given by Babe Ruth to Broadway diva Tessa Kosta in 1924, which makes it part of the legend in which Ruth supposedly put a curse on his former Red Sox team, the New York Post reported Monday.
The legend says Ruth put a hex on the Sox when owner Harry Frazee sold his contract to the Yankees in 1920 for $125,000, a sum Frazee then invested in the production of the hit Broadway musical "No, No, Nanette." Ruth's move to the Yankees began a run of 26 World Series titles for the Bronx Bombers while the Red Sox, which had won the World Series in 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918, didn't win a World Series again until 2004. They also won last season.
The Post said the bat's connection to the curse comes from the fact that Tessa Kosta's husband was Richard Madden, a theater agent who represented Eugene O'Neill and was a producer of "No, No, Nanette."
The bat will be part of an auction July 14-15 at the Javits Center in New York.
