Federer Wins Wimbledon Opening Match in Style

WIMBLEDON, England, June 22 -- Roger Federer thought Centre Court looked smashing, what with its new retractable roof at the ready, all white fabric and steel trusses.

The fans at Wimbledon thought Federer looked smashing, too, what with his new collar-up, military-style jacket and formfitting tuxedo vest, all white with gold trim.

As for Federer's play Monday at the All England club? Well, for a few minutes, that did not look quite so good. But only for a few minutes. After trailing by a break in the first set of his first match since winning the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, Federer righted himself and beat Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2, to take the first step toward a record-breaking 15th major championship overall.

"Solid performance," Federer said. "It's funny: I actually didn't even think about it -- I didn't have a grass-court match yet this year. It's something I completely forgot about."

Day 1 at Wimbledon featured only one upset of any significance: 17th-seeded James Blake of the United States lost in straight sets to 50th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy. And even that wasn't all that shocking, considering that Blake has now lost three Grand Slam matches in a row. Otherwise, No. 21 Feliciano López was beaten by Karol Beck, 10-8, in the fifth set, while two seeded women lost, No. 21 Patty Schnyder and No. 23 Aleksandra Wozniak.

Past Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova reached the second round, as did No. 4 Novak Djokovic, No. 7 Fernando Verdasco, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Williams, the 2002-03 champion and runner-up to her sister Venus a year ago, trounced qualifier Neuza Silva, 6-1, 7-5.

"He's so complete," Robin Soderling, the French Open runner-up, said of Federer after eliminating Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 6-7 (7-4), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2. "That's why he's No. 1. That's why, to me, he's the best player in history."

Actually, Federer is No. 2 in the rankings and the Wimbledon seedings, in part because the last time he played on grass, Federer lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. But Nadal withdrew from the tournament Friday, citing sore knees.

Federer won the first nine points on his serve, but he failed to convert four break points in the match's fourth game, then dumped a backhand into the net to get broken and fall behind 3-2.

Lu's biggest moment probably was his victory over Andy Murray at the Beijing Olympics, but he couldn't sustain his brief bit of strong play Monday. Federer broke right back, then took the opening set when Lu -- who is ranked 65th and is 6-15 in Grand Slam matches -- flubbed an easy volley, then missed a backhand.

Federer, meanwhile, really got going, finishing with 42 winners and only 10 unforced errors. He took time to check out the changes to an arena built in 1922: The new roof, when not in use, is bunched up in two halves atop both ends of the court, a white intrusion on all the green at Centre Court.