LONDON: Defending champion Novak Djokovic and five-time women’s winner Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday as organisers boosted security and weathermen ramped up warnings of a crushing heatwave.

Top seed Djokovic enjoyed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber with crucial breaks in the ninth game of each set and goes on to face either 2004 champion Lleyton Hewitt or Jarkko Nieminen for a place in the last 32.

“This is the cradle of our sport,” said Djokovic, playing his first match since his defeat to Stan Wawrinka at the final of the French Open three weeks ago ended his hopes of completing a career Grand Slam.

“There is no bigger tournament in our sport than Wimbledon. It’s always a special feeling to come out here as defending champion. There’s always a few butterflies.” Djokovic, also the 2011 champion, hit 12 aces and 36 winners past world number 33 Kohlschreiber.

Top seed Williams, bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to wrap up all four majors in one season, endured a nervy start, dropping serve and being warned for swearing, before completing a 6-4, 6-1 win over Margarita Gasparyan, the world number 113 from Russia who has never won a tour match in four years as a professional.

“It feels good so far. Just one match but it feels good just to be back here at Wimbledon. I’ve done so well here in the past so I’ll always have so many good memories here,” said the 33-year-old American after her 73rd Wimbledon match win gave her a second round clash against Hungary’s Timea Babos.

In other early action Monday, Spanish ninth seed Carla Suarez Navarro went down 6-2, 6-0 to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in just 52 minutes while Italian 24th seed Flavia Pennetta lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas.

Two-time semi-finalist Victoria Azarenka, seeded 23, saw off Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-1 and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic breezed past China’s Fan Xu-yi 6-1, 6-1.

In the men’s first round, Australia’s 26th seed Nick Kyrgios, who knocked out Rafael Nadal last year, eased past Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).

US Open champion Marin Cilic, the ninth seeded Croatian and a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, got past Japanese qualifier Hiroki Moriya 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

On the first day of the 2015 championships, security was stepped up in the aftermath of the weekend jihadist killings of 38 tourists in Tunisia, most of whom were British.

Spectators were subjected to the usual bag checks at the entrances to the All England Club in southwest London, where police officers were visible around the perimeter and inside the grounds.

Britain’s national terror threat level is currently at “severe”, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

Police said that extra officers would be on duty patrolling the area, while road closures and a “highly mobile reserve that can respond to emerging incidents” were also in place.

As well as security, fans and players were also bracing themselves for a rare British heatwave.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, temperature are expected to be in the low to mid-30s.

Later on Monday, fourth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, blew past Briton Johanna Konta 6-2, 6-2 while five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams steamed through by crushing US compatriot Madison Brengle 6-0, 6-0.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 men’s champion, played his last match at Wimbledon after falling to Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 in exactly 4 hours but Japan’s fifth seed Kei Nishikori overcame an injury scare to reach the second round with a gruelling 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

Seven-time champion Roger Federer, two-time winner Rafael Nadal and 2013 champion Andy Murray all start their bids on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2015

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