TENNIS/Wimbledon championships: Lleyton Hewitt's bright eyes dulled appreciable when the nuclear issue of Australian cricket was brought up yesterday at Wimbledon.

"Yeah, I got a message from (Adam) Gilchrist," he said, his head momentarily bowing so as all you could see was the top of his peaked cap. To be beaten by any English team represents, to an Australian, an unbearable decline. "I'm thinking that we'll come back to bite 'em. That's what I'm thinking," he added with just a touch of menace.

While Gilchrist, the Australian wicketkeeper and batsman, was toiling away in the unimaginable horror of cricket boot camp after the team's humiliating run of defeats, Hewitt could at least reflect on a winning start to his Wimbledon challenge. His pairing against the unseeded Christophe Rochus may have been a battle between two of the smallest players playing on the day, but the 5ft 11in Hewitt towered comfortably over his 5ft 7in Belgian opponent 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

"Roddick, Hewitt and Henman are for me the main rivals," observed Roger Federer before he too chopped and diced his way through the opening match.

From the point of view of being the favourite, Federer's comment places Hewitt firmly in the hawk's side of the house despite the 24-year-old just recently returning from a long injury break.

He underwent surgery in late March to remove a cyst from his right foot before cracking two ribs as he slipped carrying washing down the stairs at his home in Sydney. Hewitt returned to the tour at Queens two weeks ago, where he made it to the quarter-finals.

Initially, yesterday, the 2002 Wimbledon champion struggled to convert his service break-points, taking two from four in the opening sets before winning three in the third set and converting two of them in a match that caused little fear. But first round matches for the top seeds are essentially warm-ups for what lies ahead.

Hewitt, seeded three despite his ranking of two in the world, against an unseeded player who has won only one match at the championships in five previous appearances, should always be one-way traffic. Although, in the back of his mind 2003 will have been a factor.

Then the Australian became the only defending champion in the Open era to lose in the opening round when he was defeated by qualifier Ivo Karlovic.

The committee's decision to drop his seed placing to three means a projected meeting against Federer in the semi-final rather than the final. American Andy Roddick, who lost to Federer in last year's final, takes Hewitt's more precious position in the draw.

The number two seed's projected semi-final meeting is with French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

"I'm not going to talk about it right here. There's seven matches to win the tournament," he said before been pushed further on the seeding issue.

"Mate, I'm not going to talk about it," he firmly added.

Between the seeding irritant and the Aussie cricketers' collapse, the impression in London was of a typically chippy Hewitt, no bad thing. But press conferences he views in the same sort of way that the only heretic in the village might as locals march towards his house with burning torches in the middle of the night. But he is pleased with his initial form.

"Preparation-wise I've done everything I guess was under my control," said Hewitt. "When you are injured and you only play one tournament beforehand, that's out of my control. There's not a whole heap I can do. But physically I'd say I'm in pretty good shape and mentally too."

Understated confidence, much like Federer. But the Swiss number one, who advanced 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at the expense of Paul-Henri Mathieu from France, prefers to be more overtly and realistically open rather than peddle false modesty.

Federer, whose last defeat on grass was against Croatian Mario Ancic in 2002, continues to tread a thin line between arrogance and transparently underplaying his ability.

A win this year would be his third in succession, the only player to do that since Pete Sampras between 1997 and 2000.

"I don't get as nervous anymore as, say, when I played Sampras," said the defending champion. "I remember when I came out on court and you hoped you are going to win at least a few points. Now I enter matches knowing hopefully my opponents are going to feel this way."

Russian fifth seed and possible contender Marat Safin also advanced to the second round, sweeping aside Thailand's Panadorm Srichaphan in three sets 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.