Wed Jun 25 13:57:11 2008

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Federer advances; Safin stuns Djokovic at Wimbledon

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Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Five-time champion Roger Federer was a straight-set winner on Wednesday, while the men's draw lost one of its "Big Three" players when former top-ranked star Marat Safin stunned Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in second-round action at Wimbledon.

The top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer got past dangerous Swede Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to secure his 61st straight victory on grass, including 36th consecutive wins at the All England Club.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion Federer, who is also the reigning four-time U.S. Open champ, defeated Spanish star Rafael Nadal in the last two Wimbledon finals and lost to Nadal in the French Open final for the third time in three years earlier this month.

Federer is now 40-4 lifetime at Wimbledon and trying to become the first man in the Open Era to tally six straight titles here.

Meanwhile, the 75th-ranked Safin sent the third-seeded Djokovic packing with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 decision on the famed Centre Court. Djokovic headed to Wimbledon having played in two of the last three major finals. He lost to the Swiss Federer in last year's U.S. Open finale and beat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in this year's Aussie Open title bout.

Djokovic had won 19 of his previous 21 Grand Slam matches and appeared in five straight major semifinals.

The two-time major titlist Safin played solid tennis on Day 3 of this fortnight, as the big Russian served well, was crushing his mammoth two-handed backhand, and returned well throughout en route to the stunner.

Djokovic saved three match points before Safin converted on a fourth when the flat Serb double faulted to end the bout. Djokovic struggled mightily amid windy conditions on Centre Court, as he piled up 10 double faults and misfired for 28 unforced errors.

"It wasn't my day," Djokovic said after the disappointing loss. "Life goes on."

A vintage Safin dismissed the 21-year-old Djokovic in just over two hours, as he notched seven aces and broke his Serbian counterpart four times while only being broken once. The Russian is now 2-0 lifetime against Djokovic and has won all six sets played between the two. Safin also straight-setted Djokovic in the opening round at the 2005 Australian Open.

The 28-year-old Safin, who captured the U.S. Open in 2000 and won the Aussie Open in '05, typically does not like to play on grass and has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, where he's now 13-8 lifetime.

Up next for Safin will be Italian Andreas Seppi.

Another upset came when free-swinging Italian Simone Bolelli toppled 15th- seeded Chilean slugger Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4).

In some other top-20 action, 13th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka topped Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-5 and 20th-seeded Aussie Lleyton Hewitt humbled Spaniard Albert Montanes 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 6-2. The former world No. 1 Hewitt is a two-time Grand Slam champion, including a big Wimbledon title back in 2002, and will face Bolelli here in the third round.

In other play involving seeds, a No. 29 Seppi slipped past Frenchman Florent Serra 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4; No. 31 Spaniard Feliciano Lopez leveled Croat Roko Karanusic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4; and German Mischa Zverev was leading 21st-seeded former French Open champion and former top-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-4, 2-1 when the Spaniard retired from the match.