Alice Stainer: The noise of Nadal's ferocious forehands whistling through the TV is quite something. I keep expecting to see flames coming off the ball in the slo-mo replay - smoke at the very least.

Forehand winner, Nadal holds to love and takes the second set.

He should be back home in time for Paul Jubb's match.

Sam Smith
Former British number one on BBC TV at Wimbledon

There's differing ambitions for these two players.

On one hand, Giulia Gatto-Monticone is trying to become a top 100 player and qualify for the Grand Slams.

Whereas Serena Williams is trying to break even more records and be on the front page of every tennis history book.

The Japanese world number 274 sniffs a chance of a break in the sixth game but Nadal gets out the air freshener and sprays it in front of his opponent nose.

Neutralised.

John McEnroe
Three-time Wimbledon singles champion on BBC TV

I'd say Serena Williams wouldn't get up to full speed until the fourth match.

That's when she'll need to be at full speed anyway. It's around the fourth round that she'll be facing some opponents that will force her to bring it.

Peter: Serena is looking really slow. She still has the power but her court movement is terrible. She'll get through this one, but she'll need to play a lot better to get much further.

Image source, PA Media

Guilia Gatto-Monticone battles though to cling on to her serve for another game longer.

Promising 20-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov is in a spot of bother on court 14 against Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis.

He is two sets down and looking decidedly uncomfortable.

Shapovalov has yet to venture past the second round at SW19 - he is strong odds-on not to better that this year.

Guilia Gatto-Monticone bops her forehand long at 40-30 when she had a decent look down the line. Deuce.

Into a decent rally but Gatto-Monticone's forehand down the line is long again.

Break-point Williams.

First serve missed.

Serena Williams misses as she loads up on the second-serve return.

Serena holds to love in triple-quick time, the game whipping past Guilia Gatto-Monticone like the Tokyo-Osaka express train.

Image source, Getty Images

Guilia Gatto-Monticone keeps up her end but you fear Serena only need to feather the accelerator to roar away.

If Paul Jubb wins later then that will make it eight beating the total of seven who made it through in in 2006.

However, we will have to wait until 2020 to have a go at trumping 1997, when nine Brits surged into the second round.

They were:

Danny Sapsford

Mark Petchey

Chris Wilkinson

Martin Lee

Tim Henman

Greg Rusedski

Andrew Richardson

Karen Cross

Lorna Woodroffe

Serena Williams holds to love. Overhauling the American's serve is like scaling the north face of the Eiger. And Guilia Gatto-Monticone has barely packed her crampons.

And Serena Williams joins the applause.

Guilia Gatto-Monticone runs down her drop-shot and dinks down the line to complete her hold.

Rafael Nadal breaks Yuichi Sugita again - the crowd cheer but more out of acknowledgment that this will probably be another routine win for one of tennis' greats.

This is Nadal first competitive match on grass this season.

I suspect Serena Williams has had more taxing knock-ups in training.

If her serve doesn't get Guilia Gatto-Monticone, then the slugging forehand soon will.

The first game of the second set is bagged and ready to go.

Image source, Getty Images

John McEnroe
Three-time Wimbledon singles champion on BBC TV

We love a narrative in sport and in this game we have two.

On one side we have Serena Williams; a champion who's come back after having a child and is hungrier than ever.

And on the other we have Giulia Gatto-Monticone; a real journeyman of the sport who has worked her way up to the top.

Image source, Getty Images

Serena Williams snarls and swats the first set challenge of Guilia Gatto-Monticone aside like an apex predator dealing with a parasite.

Twenty-nine minutes on the clock.