Carlos Alcaraz has made a winning start to his Wimbledon title defence, defeating qualifier Mark Lajal in a competitive contest. (More Tennis News)
Opening the 2024 tournament on Centre Court, the Spaniard was broken early in each of the first two sets, but ultimately progressed 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-2.
Alcaraz was more dominant in the third set, not offering up a single break-point opportunity to Estonian qualifier Lajal, who can nonetheless reflect on a decent showing on the big stage.
French Open champion Alcaraz, looking to become the youngest player in the Open Era to win Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, will play Aleksandar Vukic or Sebastian Ofner in round two.
Elsewhere on Monday, eighth seed Casper Ruud and 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov both made comfortable starts to the tournament with straight-sets wins over Alex Bolt and Dusan Lajovic respectively.
Denis Shapovalov is also through, with the Canadian knocking out 19th seed Nicolas Jarry in a 6-1 7-5 6-4 triumph.
Frances Tiafoe almost joined Jarry as a seed to crash out on day one, but the American fought back from two sets down to defeat Matteo Arnaldi in five. That dramatic win saw him tee up a round-two clash with Borna Coric.
There was more American success when Brandon Nakashima earned a straight-sets victory over 18th seed Sebastian Baez. He won 6-2 6-3 6-4 and will face Australian Jordan Thompson next.
Data Debrief: Alcaraz up and running
Alcaraz did not have ideal preparation for Wimbledon after losing to Jack Draper in the last 16 at Queen's.
He will therefore be pleased to have got two hours and 23 minutes of competitive court time under his belt against Lajal without his progress ever really looking like it was in jeopardy.
Alcaraz fired 44 winners and lost just nine of the 56 points played on his first serve. He was also adept at the net, winning 26 of his 33 points to make it a smooth start.
He is now just the seventh player in the Open Era, and the first since compatriot Rafael Nadal, to win all of his first 14 first-round matches in grand slam tournaments.
