Britain's Tim Henman leaves the court after losing his match against Spain's Feliciano Lopez at the Wimbledon championships, in London, yesterday. - Reuters WIMBLEDON, England (AP):
ROGER FEDERER won his 50th straight match on grass, needing only 11 minutes yesterday to complete a 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 victory over 18-year-old Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina to reach the third round at Wimbledon.
The four-time defending champion, who will next face Marat Safin, had led 2-0 in the third set before rain halted play on Wednesday. When they resumed, the top-ranked Swiss finished off del Potro, winning three straight games before Del Potro held serve in the sixth game.
"It was done quickly like I was hoping, but I was ready to go five sets in case," said Federer, who broke the Argentine five timesand saved the only break point he faced.
The number one-seeded Federer, trying to become only the second man in the Open era to win five straight titles at the All England Club, finished with 33 winners and made only 23 errors - one fewer than Del Potro.
"Fifty is a great number to achieve," said Federer, who is trying to match Bjorn Borg's streak of Wimbledon titles. "I'm delighted about that but I haven't won the tournament.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Safin beat Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to advance.
"He's always a player who can upset anybody on any day. I hope he's not going to have one of those crazy good days against me," said Federer, who edged Safin 6-4 in the third set at last year's grass-court warm-up at Halle, Germany. "I feel like I will have to step it up if I want to beat him."
Federer said skipping this year's Halle tournament has not hurt his play, but he did admit to feeling slightly under the weather.
Struggled in first round
Three-time champion Venus Williams, wearing white spandex shorts instead of a usual skirt or dress, beat Hana Sromova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 to reach the third round in the women's draw.
"I really haven't played in shorts before, but my skirt was so big," Williams said. "I think they just made it too big."
Williams, who struggled in the first round on Tuesday but eventually beat Russian teen Alla Kudryavtseva in three sets, dominated Sromova with her first serves, winning 100 per cent of those points in the first set.
"I think my serve is pretty dynamic right now. It's winning me a lot of points," Williams said.
In the second set, Williams saved break points in the first and seventh games. French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic also advanced to the third round, beating Meilen Tu of the United States 6-4, 6-3. The sixth-seeded Serb reached the fourth round last year. Also, number eight Anna Chakvetadze defeated Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 6-2, 6-1, while No. 10 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 12 Elena Dementieva, No. 14 Nicole Vaidisova and No. 15 Patty Schnyder also won.
No. 17 Tatiana Golovin, No. 21 Tathiana Garbin of Italy and No. 29 Francesca Schiavone of Italy lost.
Tim Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist, was eliminated by Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 2-6, 6-1 in a match that started a day earlier. It was the third year in a row that Henman lost in the second round.
Henman, who also played five sets over two days in the first round, was the last British man or woman in the tournament. This was his 14th appearance at Wimbledon, and there has been speculation that it might be his last.
After the fourth set, the 78th-ranked Lopez took a bathroom break, which broke Henman's momentum. Henman walked to the middle of Centre Court to acknowledge a standing ovation, and then left with no emotion.
