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2017 Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer breeze into second round

By The Sports Xchange
Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a shot during his French Open men's quarterfinal match against Dominic Thiem of Austria at Roland Garros in Paris on June 7, 2017. Thiem defeated Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the semifinals. File photo by David Silpa/UPI
Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a shot during his French Open men's quarterfinal match against Dominic Thiem of Austria at Roland Garros in Paris on June 7, 2017. Thiem defeated Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the semifinals. File photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo

Second-seeded Novak Djokovic and third-seeded Roger Federer didn't need to win three sets on Tuesday to advance to the second round at Wimbledon in London.

Both stars moved on after their respective opponents retired from their matches in the second set due to injury.

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Djokovic was leading 6-3, 2-0 and up 30-0 in the third game when his opponent, Martin Klizan of Slovakia, retired due to an ailing ankle.

"It was great to be back on Centre Court, the cathedral of tennis, where I have many special memories," the 30-year-old Serb said. "It's never nice to win like this, but I tried to focus on my game plan. I thought I served well, but didn't do so well on my returns."

Djovokic will face 22-year-old Czech Adam Pavlasek, who overcame dropping the first set to post a 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over American Ernesto Escobedo in two hours, five minutes.

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While Djokovic advanced in 40 minutes, Federer needed just three more to reach the second round of Wimbledon for the 15th consecutive year. The 35-year-old Swiss star, who has seven Wimbledon titles to his credit, was leading 6-3, 3-0 before his opponent, Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, stopped in the second set with an ankle injury.

"I was hoping Alexandr was feeling better today but he has had a rough one this year, he has had to pull out a lot of matches," Federer said. "You always wish for somebody that he can play his Wimbledon the way he wants to play it, and he wasn't really able to today, but he tried."

The victory was Federer's record-breaking 85th match win at the All England Club. He is one win ahead of Jimmy Connors for most victories in the grass-court major in the Open era, which began in 1968.

Federer had 10 aces to raise his total to 10,004 to join Goran Ivanisevic and Ivo Karlovic as the only three players who have hit 10,000 aces since 1991, when the ATP started tracking the statistic.

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Sixth-seeded Milos Raonic recorded a 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over German Jan-Lennard Struff. The 26-year-old Raonic became the first Canadian male to reach a Grand Slam final when he advanced to face Andy Murray last year.

Other seeded winners on Tuesday included No. 8 Dominic Thiem of Austria, No. 10 German Alexander Zverev, No. 11 Tomas Berdych, No. 13 Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, No. 15 Frenchman Gael Monfils, No. 17 Jack Sock and No. 23 John Isner of the United States, No. 25 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, No. 27 German Mischa Zverev and No. 29 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

Richard Gasquet was not as fortunate as the No. 22 Frenchman fell in four sets to David Ferrer, a two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist. The Spaniard posted a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 triumph.

Another upset victim was 19th-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who retired in the fourth set while trailing Italy's Adrian Mannarino 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 4-3.

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No. 32 seed Paolo Lorenzi of Italy was leading Argentina's Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (8), 2-2 when their match was suspended by darkness. It was the only first-round match that was not completed.

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