Former finalist David Nalbandian became the highest men's seed to perish at Wimbledon on Monday, beaten 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 by Canada's Frank Dancevic.
Federer opens with an easy win
The seventh-seeded Argentine, runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in 2002, looked completely out of sorts, bamboozled time and again by winners flying off Dancevic's racket.
The 95th-ranked Dancevic put Nalbandian out of misery with a booming ace, his 16th of the match.
The defeat condemned the Argentine to his earliest exit from the All England Club.
Dancevic will next face American Bobby Reynolds as he bids to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time.
Safin to face Djokovic
Twice grand slam winner Marat Safin saw off a third-set fightback by Fabio Fognini to win 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 and set up a meeting with third-seeded Novak Djokovic, a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 winner over German journeyman Michael Berrer, in the second round.
Despite his oft-repeated dislike of grass courts, the big Russian, a quarter-finalist in 2001, produced an array of powerful shots in the first two sets to out-gun his 21-year-old Italian opponent.
Safin's concentration slipped in the third set and with it his accuracy. Fognini, making his first appearance in the men's singles, fought back to force a tiebreak but Safin's power and experience saw him through.
Karlovic makes an early exit
Earlier, Ivo Karlovic became the first seed to perish in the men's singles when he was surprisingly beaten 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 7-5 by German qualifier Simon Stadler.
Giant-serving Croat Karlovic, who many tipped to reach the later rounds here after he won the Nottingham warm-up event last week, went out in the first round for the fourth year in succession.
Karlovic banged down his customary barrage of aces, 23 in total, but after winning the first set comfortably enough his game went off the boil.
The 18th seed lost the second-set on a tiebreaker and world number 172 Stadler took full advantage to earn the biggest scalp of his career with single breaks of serve in the third and fourth sets.
