Nadal in 700 club and into Rosol rematch

Twelve months earlier, Rosol had stunned him in five sets, a shattering defeat which forced Nadal out of the sport for seven months to rest his battered knees.

“Rosol is a very dangerous player, very strong, very powerful shots from the baseline and I know I have to play very well if I want to have chances to win,” said Nadal.

“The important thing is to fight, play with the right tactic and wait for the luck.”

Roger Federer began his campaign for an eighth Wimbledon title with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Paolo Lorenzi, the hapless Italian who has now lost all of his 13 Grand Slam matches.

Fourth-seeded Federer, the 17-time major winner, had lost to Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovksy in the second round 12 months ago for his earliest defeat at the tournament since 2002. 

But there was never a hint of a repeat of that disaster as the 32-year-old Swiss took victory on a sixth match point having fired nine aces and 36 winners. 

“It’s always good to win the first round because the court can be slippery sometimes,” said Federer, who goes on to face either Luxembourg qualifier Gilles Muller or Julien Benneteau of France for a place in the last 32. 

Defeat for Lorenzi meant the 32-year-old has still to win a match at a Grand Slam in 11 years. But his run of 13 defeats in 13 matches at the majors is not a record—that statistic of shame belongs to Costa Rica’s Juan Antonio Marin who lost all of his 17 matches at the majors.

Federer’s compatriot, Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka also reached the second round with a first win at the tournament since 2011.

Wawrinka, the world number three but seeded five at the All England Club in a reflection of his grasscourt struggles, fired 18 aces and 39 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa.  Wawrinka, who has never got beyond the fourth round and was without a win in the tournament since 2011, tackles Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun for a place in the last 32. 

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, and like Federer playing his 61st major, beat Michal Przysiezny of Poland, 6-2, 6-7 (14/16), 6-1, 6-4.

Top seed Serena Williams took the express route into the Wimbledon second round with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of fellow American Anna Tatishvili.

Williams, bidding for a sixth Wimbledon singles crown, was playing for the first time since her embarrassing French Open second round exit against Garbine Muguruza and the world number one needed only 61 minutes on Centre Court to erase the bitter taste of that defeat.

French Open champion and fifth seed Maria Sharapova, who won her first major at Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004, raced to a 6-1, 6-0 rout of British wild card Samantha Murray, the world number 247.

Sharapova, who was knocked out in the second round last year, next faces Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky. “There’s always a bit more tension coming into the first round of a Grand Slam. It was such a quick turnaround. Just a couple weeks ago you’re on the clay, coming onto the grass, with the new grass and new surface, it’s a different feeling,” said the Russian.

“But overall I am happy with how I progressed through the match, which was the important key.”  Retired women’s champion Marion Bartoli returned to Centre Court only to hear herself introduced as ‘Maria’ by a blundering announcer. The Frenchwoman performed the coin toss ahead of the first round match between Sabine Lisicki, the German she defeated in the final last year, and Israel’s Julia Glushko. 

Lisicki, yet to get beyond the third round of any event in 2014, was untroubled against Glushko, the world number 79, winning 6-2, 6-1 in just 57 minutes.  Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 runner-up, beat Romania’s Andreea Mitu 6-2, 6-1. Michelle Larcher de Brito, who shocked Sharapova last year, defeated two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian 28th seed, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 while Italian 14th seed Sara Errani lost to France’s Caroline Garcia 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.

IMPORTANT FIRST ROUND RESULTS

Men: Sam Querrey (USA) bt Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1, 7-5; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x14) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 6-1, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Stan Wawrinka (SUI x5) bt João Sousa (POR) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3; Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) bt Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; Feliciano Lopez (ESP x19) bt Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (9/7); John Isner (USA x9) bt Daniel Smethurst (GBR) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4; Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) bt Michal Przysiezny (POL) 6-2, 6-7 (14/16), 6-1, 6-4; Roger Federer (SUI x4) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-1, 6-1, 6-3; Milos Raonic (CAN x8) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; Jack Sock (USA) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Lukasz Kubot (POL) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-4; Dusan Lajovic (SRB) bt Guillermo García-López (ESP x28) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3; Denis Kudla (USA) bt Marsel Ilhan (TUR) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Kei Nishikori (JPN x10) bt Kenny De Schepper (FRA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5; Richard Gasquet (FRA x13) bt James Duckworth (AUS) 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1; Gael Monfils (FRA x24) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 6-4; Frank Dancevic (CAN) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO x29) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4); Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Martin Klizan (SVK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Women: Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Anna Tatishvili (U.S.) 6-1 6-2; 13-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 7-5 7-5; 9-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 6-2 6-4; Victoria Duval (U.S.) beat 29-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-4 3-6 6-1; Petra Cetkovska (Czech Republic) beat Jovana Jaksic (Serbia) 6-2 4-6 7-5; Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) beat Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 2-6 6-3 6-3; Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) beat 28-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 3-6 6-3 6-1; 5-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Samantha Murray (Britain) 6-1 6-0; Caroline Garcia (France) beat 14-Sara Errani (Italy) 2-6 7-6(3) 7-5; 4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Andreea Mitu (Romania) 6-2 6-1.