Djokovic wins Wimbledon opener

Monday 25 June 2012

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TENNIS: The first day of Wimbledon 2012 yielded few surprises today as a number of top seeds, including defending men's champion Novak Djokovic, made bright starts.

The Serbian booked a second round clash with either Ryan Harrison or Lu Yen-hsun after defeating Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets.

One Spaniard who did make it through was 17th seed Fernando Verdasco after a comfortable win over Taipei's Jimmy Wang, while Jokovic's compatriot and eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic also powered through at the expense of David Nalbandian.

In the ladies' competition first seed Maria Sharapova of Russia was in commanding form as she thrashed Anastasia Rodionova and China's Li Na, seeded 11th, cruised past Ksenia Pervak.

Fifth seed Samantha Stosur of Australia also went through along with third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, but there was a surprise when five-time winner Venus Williams lost to Elena Vesnina in straight sets.

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