London  - Roger Federer played an unaccustomed fill-in role Monday as the five-time champion took Centre court stage to open play at the 123rd edition of Wimbledon, in the injury-absence of Rafael Nadal, advancing easily over Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

The Swiss second seed who lost his title after a run of half a decade to Nadal in 2008, stood in for ceremony's sake after the top seed withdrew at the weekend with knee problems.

Strict Wimbledon protocol dictates that holders on the men's and women's sides start the following year's edition.

"It's very special and will always remain this way," said the Swiss, who is aiming to create history if he can win the trophy in a fortnight to set an all-time record of 15 singles titles at majors.

"It's a very privileged spot, you know, Monday, 1:00 pm. Of course I feel honoured.

"I know that Rafa deserves it obviously more than I do this year. But somebody had to do it, so I'm very happy that they chose me, of course. It gets your heart beating, that's for sure."

Federer put in a tough first set against the number 64 Asian challenger before taking full control and steaming to his opening victory in less than two hours with ten aces and five breaks of serve.

"The atmosphere out on Centre court, it's so different to Paris, so different to what we just went through, the whole clay season," said Federer, 45-5 at Wimbledon. "You've got to live through it to really be able to talk about it.

I knew the danger today, he's beaten good players in the past. It was a tough first set and he actually remained tough throughout the match."

A pair of Americans suffered contrasting fates, with beaten James Blake pessimistic about his game after failing to impress in a defeat by Italy's Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-4, 7-6
(7-5). Mardy Fish had it easy as Argentine Sergio Roitman quit injured trailing 6-3, 6-2, 4-1.

"I still feel like I can play with anyone in the world, but it's just for some reason lately it's been very inconsistent," said Blake, who lost the Queen's final to Andy Murray eight days earlier.

Women's holder Serena Williams got through past Neuza Silva of Portugal 6-1, 7-5, while 14th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia defeated France's Julie Coin 6-4, 3-6,
6-3.

2004 champion Maria Sharapova recovered from two breaks down in the first set to overhaul Viktoriya Kutuzova of the Ukraine 7-5, 6-4, taking another step in her return to form after shoulder surgery and eight months off court.

"I was only down a couple breaks, and I knew that the set wasn't over. You know, I got it back, and then just hung in there in the second," said the three-time Grand Slam champion.(dpa)