Brilliant Hewitt in a hurry

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt wasted no time in opening his Wimbledon account today with an easy straight-sets win against Belgian Christophe Rochus.

The Australian rained down 19 aces to complete an hour-and-a-half demolition job, running out a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 winner.

Hewitt looked in total control after a momentary aberration in the fifth game when a poor service game saw him broken on a double fault.

But the third seed hit back immediately. From there on in, Rochus had no answer.

Meanwhile, defending champion Roger Federer moved into a two-set lead home over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu on Centre Court.

Federer did not look quite at his best as he set out on his bid for a third successive crown but still took the sets 6-4, 6-2.

The Swiss world No1 was given a sterner test than expected as world ranked No58 Mathieu recovered from early nerves to even have the temerity to break Federer after the champion had won the first two games without breaking sweat.

Looking somewhat rusty despite his recent grass-court triumph in Halle, Federer made heavy weather of the opening set, making more than a few mistakes. Yet he soon stepped up a gear into more serene mode, breaking Mathieu twice and making only one error in the second set to take a two-set lead after an hour and 12 minutes.