Wed Jun 27 20:31:30 2007

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Roddick rolls; Federer runs into rain at Wimbledon

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Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Two-time finalist Andy Roddick was a straight-set second-round winner Wednesday at Wimbledon, while reigning four- time champion Roger Federer was leading his second-rounder when rain halted play for the day at the All England Club.

The third-seeded Roddick improved to a career 25-6 here by handling Thai Danai Udomchoke 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) following a brief rain delay on the famed Centre Court.

The massive-serving Roddick, who has never lost before the third round here, advanced in 1 hour, 44 minutes with the help of 15 aces among his 40 winners on Day 3.

The 24-year-old Roddick is a former world No. 1 and has appeared in four Grand Slam finals, with his lone victory coming at the 2003 U.S. Open. He lost to Federer in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finales.

Roddick's third-round opponent will be lefthanded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

The top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer will have to wait until Thursday if he wants to extend his grass-court winning streak to 50 matches, as he was leading promising Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-2, 7-5, 2-0 when action was suspended for the day.

The 25-year-old Federer is trying to become only the second man in the Open Era to win this event five years in a row, joining the legendary Bjorn Borg, who captured it from 1976-80. Federer has won his last 29 matches at the All England Club, while the Swedish Borg won 41 straight here from 1976-81 before finally losing to John McEnroe in the 1981 final.

Federer has won his last 49 grass-court matches overall, dating back to 2003, which includes a 20-match streak in Halle, Germany.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion Federer is also the reigning Australian and U.S. Open champ and was this year's French Open runner-up to Rafael Nadal. The amazing Swiss has played in a record eight straight Grand Slam finals, going 6-2. He beat Nadal in last year's Wimbledon finale and hasn't lost here since Croatia's Mario Ancic beat him in the first round back in 2002.

Australian Open runner-up Fernando Gonzalez also reached the third round by overcoming fellow South American, Colombian Alejandro Falla, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1). The fifth-seeded Gonzalez, of Chile, gave way to the awesome Federer in the Aussie Open final back in January.

Gonzalez will encounter Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the round of 32 here.

Twelfth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet marched on by leveling his countryman Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

In other second-round play, Tipsarevic outlasted Frenchman Florent Serra 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 3-6, 6-2 and Verdasco whipped Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Several seeds were rained out on Day 3, including No. 9 American James Blake and No. 26 Russian star Marat Safin, a former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam event champion. Blake will have to wait until Thursday to meet veteran Romanian Andrei Pavel.

Thirteenth-seeded German Tommy Haas, 15th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic, 20th- seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero and 24th-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela were all on court Wednesday when rain sent them back to the clubhouse.

Long-time British crowd favorite Tim Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semifinalist, was tied with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 1-1 when play was stopped.

The second round will continue here on Thursday, including matches for a second-seeded Nadal, fourth-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic, sixth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych and 16th-seeded Aussie Lleyton Hewitt.

The reigning three-time French Open champion and 2006 Wimbledon runner-up Nadal will encounter Austrian Werner Eschauer, while Djokovic will meet American Amer Delic and the 2002 Wimbledon titlist and former world No. 1 Hewitt will take on Italian Simone Bolelli.