Wimbledon: Djokovic, Sharapova start with wins

Novak Djokovic began his Wimbledon title defence in cruise control as he blasted Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero off court to win 6-3 6-3 6-1 in the first round on Monday. Maria Sharapova also won, easing into the second round beating Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-2, 6-3. [caption id=“attachment_356776” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Djokovic hardly broke sweat in his win. Reuters”]  [/caption] The number one seed endured an edgy start and was broken in the third game of the first set but he struck back immediately and closed out the opener with his usual combination of rugged defence and consistently accurate groundstrokes. The Serb, who had the honour of opening Centre Court action after beating Rafa Nadal in the 2011 final, was in no mood for hanging around and broke the Spaniard twice in the second set and twice more in the third. Djokovic will now play the winner of Ryan Harrison’s first round match against Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun. French Open champion Maria Sharapova picked up right where she left off at Roland Garros. The top-ranked Russian completed a career Grand Slam by winning her first French Open title last month. She’s looking for her second title at the All England club after winning as a 17-year-old in 2004 and losing in the final to Petra Kvitova last year. She had little trouble getting past Rodionova on Centre Court, breaking the Australian five times — although she was broken once in each set, including when trying to serve out the match at 5-1 in the second. She seized her next chance, however, clinching the victory with an ace. Reuters