Roger Federer breezes past Dusan Lajovic in Wimbledon opener

Roger Federer made light work of Dusan Lajovic as he began his quest for a ninth Wimbledon title with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

The defending champion took just 79 minutes to dispatch his Serbian opponent, making hay while the sun shone brightly on Centre Court, where temperatures crept above 30 degrees Celsius.

Federer barely broke a sweat and romped to another straight-sets win against the world number 58, having seen off Lajovic in the second round last year.

The 28-year-old took Federer to a first-set tie-break in 2017 but a hold in the opening game of the match was as good as it got in the early stages.

Federer racked up nine game victories in a row and, before he knew it, Lajovic was 6-1 3-0 down and wilting in the south-west London sunshine.

Lajovic did acclimatise to make more of a contest of the second set, but he had little in his arsenal to trouble the Federer serve.

The match-winning break came in the opening game of the third set, with Lajovic unable to hit back and prolong his ultimately brief campaign, as Federer coasted through.

The Swiss, who beat Marin Cilic in last year’s final, will play either Lukas Lacko or Benjamin Bonzi in the second round.

Cilic wins

Last year’s runner-up Marin Cilic made a solid start to the Wimbledon championships with a clinical 6-1 6-4 6-4 victory over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Croatian Cilic, who lost last year’s final to Roger Federer, underlined his credentials for another Grand Slam title bid to add to his U.S. Open triumph in 2014.

The lanky 29-year-old third seed served 21 aces and made four service breaks in a match lasting one hour and 45 minutes on Court Two against a young opponent coming back from major knee surgery.

Cilic’s preparations were boosted eight days ago when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final to lift the Queen’s Club trophy, his 18th ATP Tour title.