The defending champion will face Denis Kudla in the second round - also wins for Kevin Anderson, Stan Wawrinka and Feliciano Lopez
Tuesday 2 July 2019 12:04, UK
Novak Djokovic began the defence of his Wimbledon title with an assured 6-3 7-5 6-3 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Djokovic, seeking a fourth Grand Slam victory in the past five tournaments, is the top seed and took just over two hours to dismiss his opponent.
The world No 1 and four-time Wimbledon champion was broken in the first game of the match on Centre Court before bouncing back.
He pressed out into a 4-1 advantage and stayed focused to secure the first set of his title defence. Kohlschreiber pushed hard in second, but Djokovic gained the required break in the 11th game and took the set 7-5 after a hold to love.
In the last, the defending champion continued to force errors off his opponent's racket and the straight sets victory will have no doubt pleased the newest member of his coaching team watching from the stands, Goran Ivanisevic.
Kevin Anderson, who was runner-up to Djokovic at last year's Championships, made light work of his first round opponent Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who partners Andy Murray in the men's doubles.
Anderson has been battling an elbow injury this season but looked commanding on his return to SW19 and hit 40 winners and 16 aces over the course of his 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory.
Herbert will now concentrate on his doubles campaign with Murray while Anderson will meet Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.
Tipsarevic had a marathon first-round clash as he spent three hours and 56 minutes on Court 15 against Yoshihito Nishioka before eventually winning 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 5-7 6-2.
Stan Wawrinka took a different route entirely and earned the award for speed. At the start of the day he took 87 minutes to beat the Belgian qualifier Rubens Bemelmans 6-3 6-2 6-2 on the No 2 court.
The 22nd seed didn't face a break point and the two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist will meet Reilly Opelka next.
The hero of Queen's Club, Feliciano Lopez, set up an outstanding second round meeting with Russia's Karen Khachanov.
Lopez's straight sets 6-4 6-2 6-4 result over Marcos Giron saw him put down 16 aces and win 95 per cent of points on his first serve.
Khachanov's own serve and ace count also saw him through a three-hour 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 4-6 7-5 victory over Soonwoo Kwon on Court 18.
On account of his first Wimbledon Championships, 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime ended the hopes of a fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Pospisil, a quarter-finalist in 2015, took the first set before the teenager focused in and stormed the next three.
The 5-7 6-2 6-4 6-3 win means that he'll meet either Grigor Dimitrov or Corentin Moutet in the second round.
