Federer, Serena reach Wimbledon 2nd round

LONDON, July 03 (AFP): Eight-time champion Roger Federer and seven-time winner Serena Williams shrugged off 30-degree heat to breeze into the Wimbledon second round Monday.

Federer, the defending champion and seeking a 21st major, marked the start of his 20th successive Wimbledon with a new look and a comfortable 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia's Dusan Lajovic.

Williams, like Federer, 36-years-old but chasing a 24th Slam title, enjoyed a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 victory over Holland's Arantxa Rus.

It was the American's first match at the All England Club since lifting the 2016 title.

She missed the 2017 edition as she prepared for the birth of her first child.

Top seed Federer marched out on Centre Court dressed for the first time in gear designed by Japanese giant Uniqlo in a deal reported to be worth $300 million after a two-decade association with Nike.

But everything else was familiar for the Swiss star who cruised past world number 57 Lajovic in just 79 minutes.

It was the second successive year that Federer had knocked out the Serb at Wimbledon.

"I'm very happy, I felt good from the start too which was nice and that was not the case last year against him. I remember I struggled early on a lot," said Federer.

After just 20 minutes to complete the first set, Federer went on to fire 35 winners past Lajovic, breaking serve five times, setting up a second round encounter against either Lukas Lacko of Slovakia or French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi.

Out on Court One, Serena, seeded 25 this year despite a ranking of 181, had too much power for Rus, the world 107 who made the third round in 2012 but failed to get out of qualifying on her last three visits.

Williams, looking to move within one title of Martina Navratilova's Open era record of nine Wimbledon titles, fired 23 winners past Rus and broke serve four times.