Federer, Serena on show as Wimbledon battles backlog

Roger Federer London - Arabstoday Six-time men's champion Roger Federer and Serena Williams, the women's winner on four occasions, are amongst Wimbledon's headliners on Tuesday as organisers tackle a backlog of matches. Heavy rain, which washed out all of Monday evening's action except on the covered Centre Court, means that 95 singles matches were slated for Tuesday, the second day of the 125th Championships. Federer, who made a shock quarter-final exit last season, begins his campaign to equal Pete Sampras's record seven titles, with a clash against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan. A day after big sister Venues cruised into the second round, defending champion Serena Williams opens up Centre Court proceedings against France's Aravane Rezai. Third seed Novak Djokovic, playing for the first time since Federer ended his 43-match winning run at the French Open, begins against Jeremy Chardy of France. Women's world number one Caroline Wozniacki, still searching for her first Grand Slam title, faces Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Santonja, while French Open winner Li Na of China tackles Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva. Former champion Maria Sharapova, seeded fifth this year, meets fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze. Tuesday's action also sees John Isner of the United States face Nicolas Mahut of France in a rematch of their epic clash last year which lasted over 11 hours and was the longest tennis match in history. That match has been scheduled for Court Three.