Sky Sports.com - Wimbledon 2008

Rafael Nadal was made to fight for his first round victory by German qualifier Andreas Beck.

The world number two, bidding for his second Grand Slam title of the season after capturing the French Open for the fourth time, won 6-4 6-4 7-6 on Centre Court.

It was tough going for the Spaniard but he was able to book his place in the second round, where he will meet the talented young Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

Gulbis was a 7-5 7-5 6-7 7-6 winner against the American giant John Isner.

"He was another leftie and his second serve was difficult to read. He served to the body and that was hard for me," said Nadal.

Strange match

"But in the tiebreak I hit some good forehands.

"It was a strange match. There weren't many points from the baseline and I play mostly from the baseline."

It was a surprisingly strenuous workout for Nadal, who had good cause to be surprised by the consistency of his opponent, the world number 122 who was making his grand slam debut and competing in his first ever senior event outside his homeland.

But Beck served well and provided the sort of booming groundstrokes which might have lacked Nadal's verve and variety but still gave the favourite plenty to think about.

Never unduly challenged on his own serve, Nadal secured breaks in the seventh and third games, respectively, of the first two sets then raced through a third set tie-break without conceding a point.

In fact, Nadal's biggest challenge came in the very first point of the match

when he summoned a video decision on a Beck forehand towards the tramlines and was ruled incorrect by a fraction of an inch.

It was a useful exercise for Nadal, who only had cause to show glimpses of the

kind of swashbuckling form which has prompted many Wimbledon legends led by Bjorn Borg to make the Spaniard favourite for the title.