Del Potro sails through Wimbledon opener

LONDON, June 23 (UPI) -- Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro sailed through a first-round victory Tuesday at the Wimbledon Championships in London.

Del Potro had no trouble in a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win over Arnaud Clement in 94 minutes. Del Potro was installed into the draw position vacated by No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal, who withdrew with knee problems, and played to that caliber. He gave up just 11 points in 24 service games and cashed in 6-of-9 break opportunities.

Del Potro goes against Lleyton Hewitt in the second round. Hewitt, who won Wimbledon in 2000, was also a straight-set winner Tuesday, taking out Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

The best hopes of the United Kingdom and the United States each won but needed four sets to get to the second round. Third-seeded Andy Murray, from Scotland, defeated Robert Kendrick 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4 while sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick bested Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3.

In other first-round action Tuesday involving highly seeded players, No. 8 Gilles Simons stopped Bobby Reynolds 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and 10th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez got by Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 7-5, 6-3. Also, No. 12 Nikolay Davydenko swept past Daniel Evans 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 and 16th-seeded David Ferrer beat Kevin Kim 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.