Associated Press

Wimbledon, June 20:

Roger Federer successfully began his bid for a third consecutive Wimbledon title, extending his grass-court winning streak to 30 matches by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Federer, ranked No 1, hit four aces in his first service game. He finished with 18 aces and extended his winning streak to 15 matches. No 3 Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, playing in just his second tournament after being sidelined for 11 weeks by injuries, hit 19 aces and beat Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport easily advanced to the second round at Wimbledon, beating Alina Jidkova of Russia 6-0, 6-2. Davenport, who won the title at the All England Club in 1999, needed just 41 minutes to get past Jidkova. Davenport

will face Jamea Jackson of the US, who topped Marta Marrero of Spain 6-2, 6-3. Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 French Open champion, was on the verge of her second successive first-round exit at a major event when she rallied to beat 18-year-old qualifier Katerina Bohmova 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.

No 10 Patty Schnyder instead became the first seeded player to be eliminated. She was upset by Antonella Serra Zanetti 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded fifth, beat Rebecca Llewellyn 6-0, 6-1, and will play India’s Sania Mirza who beat Japan’s Akiko Morigami 6-3, 3-6, 8-6. No 13 Elena Likhovtseva drubbed Anna Smashnova 6-2, 6-2.

David Sherwood delighted the home crowd by beating Ricardo Mello 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Federer came to the net infrequently but played with polish from the baseline, hitting 33 winners with just 15 unforced errors. Federer is trying to become the third man in the Open era to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles. Myskina struggled against Bohmova, ranked No 146 and playing in her first Grand Slam event. The left-hander from the Czech Republic led 4-1 in the second set, 4-3 in the tiebreaker and 3-0 in the final set but couldn’t close out an upset. Myskina, seeded ninth, broke a four-match losing streak.