Rafael Nadal works hard to make Wimbledon second round
- Published
Nadal powers through after early scare
World number two Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to beat Thomaz Bellucci in the first round at Wimbledon.
The 2008 and 2010 champion was broken twice in going 4-0 down in the first set to his Brazilian opponent but recovered to take it on a tie-break.
His progress from there was straightforward, the Spaniard completing a 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 6-3 win.
Elsewhere, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets.
Hewitt's loss, along with Bernard Tomic's four-set defeat by Belgian wildcard David Goffin, contributed to Australia being without a man in the second round for the first time since 1938.
Frenchman Tsonga goes on to play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for a place in the last 32 and is a potential quarter-final opponent for Nadal.
On the back of a record-breaking seventh French Open title, Nadal certainly could have had an easier first-round challenge than the one presented by Bellucci.
The world number 80 produced a series of fizzing forehands to get Nadal on the back foot, only to implode in the tie-break after the second seed regrouped.
A further Bellucci wobble in the second set allowed Nadal to extend his lead and, although the underdog registered a break in the third, Nadal was always unlikely to be derailed.
"I have to improve a lot in the next round," Nadal told BBC Sport. "I made more mistakes than usual, I was very lucky to come back from 4-0 down."
Nadal's compatriot, 12th seed Nicolas Almagro, is through after a five-set win over Olivier Rochus, but Spanish 14th seed Feliciano Lopez was beaten in four sets by Jarkko Nieminen.
Another Spaniard, seventh seed David Ferrer, won the first two sets against Germany's Dustin Brown, but will have to return on Wednesday after play was suspended.
Ferrer is a potential future opponent for Andy Murray, who will meet the winner of the match between Ivo Karlovic and Dudi Seal in round two. Karlovic held a two-set lead at the end of the day's action.
Elsewhere, former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro beat Robin Haase in four sets to join fellow seeds Mardy Fish, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Kei Nishikori in the second round.
Kevin Anderson, the 32nd seed, was beaten in four sets by Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, while Tommy Haas, who beat Roger Federer in the Halle final last week, was beaten by fellow German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Milos Raonic will return on Wednesday only a single game away from beating Santiago Giraldo in straight sets, with Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka sitting just a point from a five-set defeat by Jurgen Melzer.