adminThe third-seeded Swiss barely broke sweat in demolishing his 48th-ranked opponent 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 with the final set taking only 17 minutes.
On a chilly afternoon Federer strolled serenely around the lush court and was never remotely troubled in a match lasting only 68 minutes.
“I’ve won it (Wimbledon) a few times now but it still feels special,” Federer told the BBC.
“I still enjoy myself in the first round and it’s a pleasure playing on Centre Court again this year. I thought it was a good first round for me. I’m very happy, conditions are pretty cold but it releases some of the pressure now.”
Hanescu lost his opening service game and was 3-0 down within six minutes as Federer showcased his broad armoury of attacking shots.
His serve regularly found the lines, with the Romanian floundering in his search for answers and unable to find any sort of rhythm.
Federer, bidding to become the first man to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title eight times, will face Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in the next round.
On the women’s side, fifth seed Sara Errani was out-gunned in the Wimbledon first round by a teenager playing her first senior match on grass — Puerto Rican Monica Puig.
The hard-hitting, Miami-based Puig, ranked 65th in the world, battered the Italian to win 6-3, 6-2 on Court 18.
Errani, a finalist at the French Open last year and a semi-finalist there earlier this month, said she had let her fear of grass get to her.
Though she saved six match points, she ran out of puff and answers to the relentless attacks of the 19-year-old Puig, who reached the third round of the junior event here in 2010 but had never played a senior Grand Slam before this year’s French Open.
“My biggest problem is moving, in that I’m afraid of hurting myself so I can’t move as I would like,” Errani told a news conference. “It is difficult to get rid of the fear — you can’t go to the gym and come out and it’s better.
“I’m afraid of falling on the ground and getting an injury,” added Errani, who did fall flat on her face to give away a point in the second set, and who had pulled out ahead of last week’s Eastbourne grasscourt tournament to rest an injured muscle.
Meanwhile, twelve-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal crashed to one of the most humiliating defeats in Wimbledon history at the hands of Belgium’s world number 135 Steve Darcis yesterday
Journeyman Darcis clinched a shock 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 win to condemn the fifth-seed Spanish superstar to a first ever loss in the opening round of a major.
It also came just two weeks after Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 Wimbledon champion, had celebrated a record eighth French Open title.
The sensational result was the first time since Gustavo Kuerten in 1997 that a French Open champion had lost in the opening round at Wimbledon.
Nadal’s last loss to such a low-ranked player was to Joachim Johansson, the world 690, at the 2006 Stockholm Open.
The defeat, which followed Nadal’s second round shocker at the hands of Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic at last year’s Wimbledon, brought to an end his 22-match winning streak in 2013. Darcis, 29, and nicknamed ‘Shark’, had come into Wimbledon with just two wins under his belt on the tour all year.
“Nobody was expecting my win today. I don’t know what to say. I’m really happy,” said Darcis, who has now matched his best performance at the All England Club having reached the second round in 2009. — AFP.
Online Reporter