Sun Jun 22 12:26:37 2008

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Federer, Ivanovic highlight Day 1 at Wimbledon

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London, England (Sports Network) - Top seeds Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic highlight Monday's schedule of play as Wimbledon 2008 commences at the All England Club.

Federer is gunning for a sixth straight Wimbledon crown and will be first on Centre Court when he meets Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty. The Swiss superstar is coming off another French Open setback, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final at Roland Garros for the third straight year.

Despite the humbling 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 loss in Paris, Federer bounced back nicely on his favorite surface with another title in Halle. He has won 59 straight matches on grass and is trying to become the first man in the Open-era (1968) to win six straight Wimbledon titles.

Ivanovic, meanwhile, enters the Wimbledon fortnight with her first Grand Slam title in hand after a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Dinara Safina at the French Open. The triumph in Paris vaulted the 20-year-old Serbian to the top of the women's rankings.

A semifinal loser to eventual champion Venus Williams at Wimbledon last year, Ivanovic elected not to play a grass-court tuneup tournament and will take Centre Court after Federer against Paraguay's Rossana De loss rios.

Williams, seeded seventh this year and trying for her fifth Wimbledon crown, will not take the court until Tuesday against British wild card Naomi Cavaday, but sister Serena -- a two-time Wimbledon champion -- has the first match on Court 1 against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

Another former Wimbledon men's champ, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, follows Serena on Court 1 and takes on Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Hewitt is last man not named Federer to win the London slam, capturing the crown in 2002.

Other top players in action on the men's side Monday include third-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia, fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer and Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian.

Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year's Wimbledon semifinals and won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year, will battle Germany's Michael Berrer in the last match on Centre Court. Ferrer will meet Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine and Nalbandian, a surprise finalist in his first Wimbledon appearance in 2002, will square off against Canada's Frank Dancevic on Court 1.

Other top women on the schedule include fourth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, eighth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and last year's runner- up, 11th-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champ who matched her best Wimbledon result last year with a quarterfinal appearance, will play France's Mathilde Johansson, while Chakvetadze will take on Canada's Stephanie Dubois and Bartoli will tangle with Germany's Sabine Katharin Lisicki.