Roger Federer gets another uneasy win at Wimbledon

Reporting from Wimbledon, England — Top-seeded and defending champion Roger Federer struggled again Wednesday at Wimbledon.

Playing against a 24-year-old, pony-tailed qualifier from Serbia, Ilija Bozoljac, Federer lost a set and needed two tiebreaks to move into the third round.

The final score was 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (5), but following Federer’s five-set struggle to survive the first round, the six-time Wimbledon winner doesn’t seem at ease on his favorite surface.

“I think the first two matches have been tough,” Federer said. “I mean, this is hard. I’m excited that I’m still in the tournament. I’m looking forward to my third round regardless of how I got there.”

Federer’s opponent in last year’s final, fifth-seeded Andy Roddick, also dropped a set. But the American seemed to struggle a little less in his second-round match, especially after he changed his strategy a bit.

Roddick beat France’s Michael Llodra, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (2), and made a point of rushing the net more as the match progressed. Though he usually prefers to punish opponents from the baseline with his big forehand, Roddick won 34 points at the net against Llodra. “I made an adjustment,” Roddick said. “I had to start coming in and serving and volleying.”

Third-seeded Novak Djokovic had little trouble eliminating another American, Taylor Dent, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-4, even though Dent served an 148-mph ace.

Second-seeded Venus Williams had an impressive win over Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who had won a grass-court warm-up tournament before arriving at Wimbledon. Williams won, 6-0, 6-4, and said afterward, “I’m giving myself a good grade.”

Another American woman, 33rd-seeded Melanie Oudin, was less successful. Oudin, who reached the fourth round her last year and declared herself thrilled to be back on grass courts, was upset by Austria’s Jarmila Groth, 6-4, 6-3, leaving Venus and her top-seeded sister as the only American women in the singles draw.

Venus only lost 11 points on her serve and was so dominant she was mostly asked to talk about what turned into irrelevancy — whether her sister Serena Williams would curtsy for Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen is expected to attend Wimbledon on Thursday for the first time since 1977, but top-seeded and defending champion Serena has been put on Court 2 instead of Centre Court. She won’t have to worry about the curtsy.

Federer claims to be unworried about his two lengthy early matches.

“People maybe got a little bit spoiled and thought the early rounds are not even a competition anymore,” he said. “People think everyone is scared of me. I think the other guys actually play better matches against me because they have nothing to lose.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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