Wimbledon - Men's Draw: French open champion Rafael Nadal is through to Wimbledon's second round after a straight sets win over German qualifier Andreas Beck, but fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko has beconme the highest profile casualty of the first round after losing to another German, Benjamin Becker.
Despite a win in three sets Nadal didn't have it all his own way against Beck and needed a tie-break in the third to claim 6-4 6-4 7-6 victory on Centre Court.
The Spaniard will meet the Ernests Gulbis in the second round after the talented young Latvian was a 7-5 7-5 6-7 7-6 winner against the American giant John Isner.
The four-times French Open champion arrived for his fifth Wimbledon having claimed his first grasscourt title at Queen's Club. The Mallorcan was even tipped in the build-up by former great Bjorn Borg to end Roger Federer's All England Club reign this year.
He certainly played with ruthless efficiency and with 17 aces to his name, demonstrated that his swinging left-handed serve is now a weapon to be feared on slick grass.
However, there were also times when the 22-year-old baseliner struggled to dominate an opponent playing the biggest match of his career.
Nadal's first serve accuracy was up at 80 percent during the opening two sets as Beck got nowhere near a break. Nadal pounced at 3-3 in the opener when Beck erred with a backhand and he broke again at 1-1 in the second set.
Unlike at Roland Garros where Nadal switched on the after burners to blow a succession of opponents off court, he could find no quick way to get rid of Beck during a third set that went on for 64 minutes.
Nadal was frustrated at 3-3 when Beck twice produced big aces to fend off danger while the German also smacked a forehand winner bang on the baseline to save another break point.
Beck, whose failure to forge a break point of his own in the match spoke volumes for Nadal's serve, finally succumbed in the tiebreak, failing to win a point as Nadal fired off a succession of rasping winners.
"Yeah, today I served well. My second best for aces on grass after I hit 18 two years ago against Agassi here, and today 17," he told reporters. "I'm happy with my serve.
"In my opinion, I am a more complete player because I have more options, no?"
Few people will bet against Nadal lining up in the final on Sunday week but the Spaniard said he was looking only as far as Thursday's potentially difficult clash with French Open quarter-finalist Gulbis.
"I have a difficult draw," Nadal said. "I'm gonna play against a very tough opponent, one of the worst opponents I could play in the second round."
Davydenko was beaten in straight sets by Becker.
A break of serve in each set was enough to give the German a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory on Court Two and maintain Davydenko's dismal record at the All England Club.
The Russian has not had much success at the tournament and has lost in the first round in five of his last seven appearances.
Becker, who did not play any of the pre-Wimbledon grass court preparation events, was too strong and too steady for the frail-looking Davydenko.
Becker will next meet the winner of the match between Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Arnaud Clement of France.
Twice runner-up Andy Roddick came through three tough first round sets to beat debutant Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 7-5 6-4 7-6.
The Argentine, coached by Javier Nalbandian, brother of world number seven David, often outplayed Roddick from the back of the court in only his third outing on grass but was unable to trouble the American's ever-strong service game.
Roddick called upon his eight years of Wimbledon experience to break serve late to take the opening two sets and snuffed out any potential of an upset by wrapping up the third-set tie-break 7-0.
Former world number one Roddick, a beaten quarter-finalist last year, faces Janko Tipsarevic in the next round after the Serb beat Thierry Ascione of France 7-6 6-4 6-2.