25 Jun 2014

Federer breezes into Wimbledon second round, Nadal also through

5:49 am on 25 June 2014

Roger Federer has started his pursuit of a record 8th Wimbledon title with a 6-1 6-1 6-3 romp over Italy's Paolo Lorenzi.

A year after leaving the All England Club as a shell-shocked second-round loser, Federer was back to his sublime best, winning the approval of his coach Stefan Edberg.

Seven weeks short of his 33rd birthday, Federer knows that time is fast running out to win the trophies that really matter.

Federer's countryman and world number 3 Stanislas Wawrinka conquered his first-round Wimbledon demons with a straight sets win over Portugal's Joao Sousa to reach the second round in London for the first time in three years.

But the second seed Rafael Nadal needed four sets to overcome the unseeded Slovakian Martin Klizan.

The former women's champion Maria Sharapova showed no mercy to the British wildcard Samantha Murray in a brutal 6-1 6-0 first-round victory.

The Russian fifth seed is bidding for a French Open-Wimbledon double.