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Federer advances to second round in Paris

Roger Federer holds up his trophy after defeating Pete Sampras at the Netjets Showdown at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 10, 2008. Federer defeated Sampras in a third set tie-break to win the match. (UPI Photo/John Angelillo)
Roger Federer holds up his trophy after defeating Pete Sampras at the Netjets Showdown at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 10, 2008. Federer defeated Sampras in a third set tie-break to win the match. (UPI Photo/John Angelillo) | License Photo

PARIS, May 26 (UPI) -- Swiss star Roger Federer breezed to a straight-set victory Monday at the French Open, but rain postponed the matches of some other top-contenders.

The world No. 1 and top-seeded Federer defeated American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in a first-round match that lasted an hour and 35 minutes. Federer had five service breaks.

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The 26-year-old Federer, who has won 12 Grand Slam tournaments, has yet to take the French crown. He has lost to Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the last two finals.

"The first round of a slam is always hard to get through," Federer said after defeating Querrey.

Eleventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also advanced, crushing Australian Robert Smeets 6-1, 6-0, 6-1.Spaniard Tommy Rebredo, seeded 12th, eliminated former French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. .

Italian Simone Bolelli upset the No. 17 seed, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and American Wayne Odesnik beat 29th-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (10-8).

Other winners included Frenchmen Nicolas Devilder and Michael Llodra, Spaniards Pablo Andujar, Marcel Granollers, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Oscar Hernandez and Korean Hyung-Taik Lee.

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Among seeds who had their matches postponed until Tuesday were three-time defending champion Nadal, seeded No. 2, and No. 9 Stanislas Wawrinka.

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