| Wimbledon: Federer and Roddick advance in Opening Match |
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| Written by Zico Kelly | |||||||
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Tuesday, 26 June 2007
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 Bookie favourite Roger Federer and American Andy Roddick get through their first day at WImbledon 2007. Federer took advantage of a welcome spell of dry weather to make a successful start to his bid for a fifth straight Wimbledon title.Rain delayed the start of play at the All England Club by almost three hours, Federer eventually beginning his first-round clash with Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili at 2.43 PM EST. The world No1 emerged onto Centre Court in long trousers and white jacket, and could probably have won without taking them off as he cruised to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory in just 92 minutes. Andy Roddick, the No3 seed, beat his fellow American Justin Gimelstob 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) in their rain-delayed first-round match on Court One. Roddick, who won the warm-up tournament at Queen's this month, settled quickly and secured the opening set 6-1 in only 25 minutes. Roddick was a 14 to 1 odds pre-Wimbledon tip from Point-Spreads.com. Gimelstob put up sterner resistance in the second set but Roddick took it 7-5 against his 30-year-old opponent, who missed the end of last season and the opening few months of this year because of back surgery. The third set featured an epic ninth game in which Gimelstob saved seven break points. Eventually Roddick, who was beaten at the All England Club last year by Britain's Andy Murray, closed out the match on a tie-break in just over two hours. A line judge received a personal reminder of Roddick's power when hit by a 134mph serve in the third set. Get the latest Wimbledon odds at SportBet.com.                        |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 June 2007 ) | |||||||