London, July 30 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Swiss Roger Federer Monday kept on course for adding the Olympic title to his Wimbledon crown, beating Julien Benneteau of France in straight sets in the second round of the men’s singles tennis competitions at the All England Club.
The World No.1 swept past his 32nd-ranked opponent 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and will now play either Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller or Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.
Elsewhere in the draw, world No.2 Novak Djokovic will meet former US Open champion Andy Roddick in the second round of the Olympic tennis tournament after the American beat Slovakia’s Martin Klizan Monday.
Roddick forced his way past Klizan 7-5, 6-4 thanks to late breaks in both sets as the Slovak, ranked 52nd in the world, put up stiff resistance.
“It was good. I got myself a couple of great points and only a couple of breaks, but I served pretty well and got through,” Roddick said.
The Olympic tennis is being played at Wimbledon, where Djokovic won last year and Roddick has reached the final three times, most recently in 2009.
Argentinian World No.10 Juan Monaco booked his place in the second round by beating Belgium’s David Goffin 6-4, 6-1 and will now play Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the second round after he beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-7, 6-2, 9-7.
Croatia’s 13th seed Marin Cilic will face 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt in the second round after beating Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 7-6(5), 6-2.
“It was not as comfortable as I thought it was going to be,” Cilic said.
“In the first set I had a break and then I thought I’m going to get that first set done but Jurgen played really well at the end of the first set and made me a little uncomfortable on the court.”
Elsewhere in the draw, France’s World No.20 Richard Gasquet beat 33rd-ranked Robin Haas of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 while there was also a win for Canada’s Milos Raonic.
