Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates after defeating Britain's Tim Henman at Wimbledon yesterday. - REUTERS
WIMBLEDON, England (AP):
THE TOP women were in a big hurry at Wimbledon yesterday. So was Roger Federer.
The three-time defending men's champion routed Tim Henman 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, winning 11 straight games at one stretch to move into the third round and extend his record grass-court winning streak to 43 matches.
Federer, who took 85 minutes to dismantle Henman on Centre Court, looks untouchable as he bids to become the third man in the Open era to win four straight Wimbledon titles. He dropped only seven games in his first-round win on Tuesday over Richard Gasquet, and said he's never played so well this early in the tournament.
"I've had a different kind of a draw, where people are expecting me to struggle more," Federer said. "That I came through that convincing obviously gives me a lot of confidence. Sends out maybe a little bit of a message for the other players."
FIRST-ROUND MATCHES
Defending women's champ Venus Williams, former winner Maria Sharapova and top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo swept their first-round matches in less than an hour - losing only three games among them.
Williams crushed 103rd-ranked American Bethanie Mattek 6-1, 6-0, in 51 minutes on Centre Court; Sharapova took the same amount of time. Second-seeded Kim Clijsters needed even less time to reach the third round: she advanced by walkover after her opponent, Viktoriya Kutuzova, pulled out with a viral infection. No. 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Russia's Ekaterina Bychkova 6-1, 6-2 in 55 minutes.
The one-sided trend continued late in the day with former champion Martina Hingis downing Italy's Tathiana Garbin, 6-1, 6-2, in 60 minutes. No. 9 Anastasia Myskina dropped just four games in a 6-0, 6-4 victory.
