Roddick, Hewitt Win At Wimbledon

Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Two-time runner-up Andy Roddick, fourth-seeded David Nalbandian and former champion Lleyton Hewitt were among the winners Wednesday at Wimbledon. The third-seeded Roddick improved to 13-2 in his last 15 matches here by getting past Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in a surprisingly tough four-setter, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, on Court 1. The big-serving American needed 2 hours, 52 minutes to reach the second round. Roddick blasted 28 aces and held his massive serve throughout the tight match. He appeared to be in trouble, trailing 0-3 in the third-set tiebreak, but the American fought back to claim the tiebreak and then played a solid fourth set to move on. The 2003 U.S. Open champion and former world No. 1 Roddick finished as the runner-up here to the great Roger Federer in 2004 and last year. Up next for Roddick, who`s now a career 22-5 at the All England Club, will be German Florian Mayer. The reigning Tennis Masters Cup titlist and 2002 Wimbledon runner-up Nalbandian eased into the third round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Frenchman Arnaud Clement, while a sixth-seeded Hewitt won his first-round match by dismantling Italian Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 on Day 3 of this fortnight. The two-time major champion and former world No. 1 Hewitt beat Nalbandian in the final here four years ago. Fifth-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic needed nine match points on Wednesday before sneaking past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a grueling five-set opening-round affair, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9. The lefthanded Lopez was a surprise quarterfinalist here last season. Ljubicic will meet American journeyman Justin Gimelstob in the round of 64. The men`s draw lost a top-10 seed when Colombian Alejandro Falla knocked out ninth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10-8), 6-3. Davydenko is now a dismal 1-11 in his career grass-court matches. In other first-round play, 15th-seeded Sebastien Grosjean grounded fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, 16th-seeded Argentine Gaston Gaudio got past Frenchman Jean-Christophe Faurel 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and Mardy Fish easily dismissed his 17th-seeded fellow American Robby Ginepri 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. (Copyright 2005 by The Sports Network)