Murray makes impressive start in SW19.
Review of the action on day two at the All England Club
Andy Murray began his Wimbledon challenge in style with a straight-sets first-round victory over
Fabrice Santoro on Tuesday.
The British number one is through to face Belgium's
Xavier Malisse after a 6-3 6-4 7-6 win over the veteran Frenchman on Centre Court.
It was a fine start for the 22-year-old Scot, who missed last year's tournament with a wrist injury and who has yet to go beyond the fourth round at the All England Club.
And the 12th seed was happy with his display.
"It was good," was his assessment.
"It was a bit nervy but once I won the first set, it felt pretty comfortable. There were some great shots in there.
"I probably hit 50 winners in the match and if I hit 50 winners against people better than him, I'll come out on top. When I had to mix it up and be patient, I did that too.''
Murray also paid tribute to the Centre Court crowd who got behind him and revelled in some sparkling tennis.
He said: "You want to enjoy your wins, especially playing on Centre Court. He's beaten a lot of top guys. I don't look at it as getting the match out of the way. The atmosphere on court today was really good. It's an awesome court.
"I didn't get angry at all through the match. I felt relaxed and it was good to play against somebody like that who you have to be patient with. Mentally, it was a good workout.''
Qualifier
Chris Eaton joined Murray in round two by pulling off a shock straight-sets win over Serbian
Boris Pashanski.
Eaton, who won three matches at last week's qualifying event, claimed a 6-3 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 victory shortly before dusk descended on the All England Club.
Eaton said: "It is fantastic, a dream come through. To win my match was phenomenal.
"The support was unbelievable.
"When you first walk out there, people are shouting and giving it everything, so you cannot not give it everything.''
He added: "The way I was playing and serving, I knew definitely I had a chance.
"All my hard work has paid off.''
Eaton will now play temperamental 25th seed
Dmitry Tursunov, of Russia, in round two on Thursday. Tursunov beat last year's Queen's Club finalist
Nicolas Mahut in five sets.
Another Briton,
Jamie Baker, was unable to reproduce such heroics, although given recent events that was no surprise.
Baker has only just recovered after contracting the potentially life-threatening blood disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, which left him in hospital in Miami just months ago.
He was able to take the court but duly went down 6-4 6-2 6-3 to Italy's
Stefano Galvani.
The biggest casualty of the day was fourth seed
Nikolay Davydenko, beaten in straight sets by Germany's
Benjamin Becker.
A break of serve in each set was enough to give Becker a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory on Court Two and maintain Davydenko's dismal record at the All England Club.
The Russian becomes the highest ranked player to be eliminated in this year's first round.
He knew where it had all gone wrong.
"(On grass) I need to have my serve going well and the return also needs to be as good as possible but today my return was really bad," said the world number four.
There were few problems for some of the bigger names,
Second seed
Rafael Nadal was made to fight but still posted a first-round victory by German qualifier
Andreas Beck.
Bidding for his second Grand Slam title of the season after winning the French Open for the fourth time, Nadal came through 6-4 6-4 7-6 to earn a meeting with
Ernests Gulbis - a 7-5 7-5 6-7 7-6 winner over American giant
John Isner.
Nadal admitted he had been troubled at times.
"He was another leftie and his second serve was difficult to read. He served to the body and that was hard for me," he said.
"It was a strange match. There weren't many points from the baseline and I play mostly from the baseline."
Sixth seed
Andy Roddick also progressed safely from his opening match, beating Argentina's
Eduardo Schwank 7-5 6-4 7-6.
The two-time beaten finalist, who reached the quarter-finals 12 months ago, faces
Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the second round.
Roddick's Davis Cup team-mate
James Blake later joined him in the last 64. The ninth seed came from a set down to beat pint-sized Belgian
Christophe Rochus in four.
Richard Gasquet will meet fellow Frenchman
Sebastian Grosjean in the second round after a routine victory over
Mardy Fish.
Gasquet, a beaten semi-finalist last year, was too strong for the American veteran as he won 6-2 6-3 6-4.
The eighth seed will meet the popular Grosjean, who earlier saw off the challenge of
Potito Starace in straight sets.
There was more French success as
Paul-Henri Mathieu charged into the next round despite dropping the first set of his match against
Oscar Hernandez.
The 14th seed lost only four more games as he completed a 3-6 6-2 6-0 6-2 victory which takes him through to a meeting with
Jeremy Chardy, a winner in five sets against
Frederico Gil.
Gilles Simon was another French winner, the 28th seed dropping only nine games in a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over
Dawid Olejniczak of Poland.
Mikhail Youzhny also breezed through, the Russian 15th seed losing only five games as he routed
Sergio Roitman 6-1 6-4 6-0.
Jarkko Nieminen reached the second round after his opponent
Wayne Odesnik withdrew because of injury.
Odesnik lost the first set 6-3 to the 24th seed from Finland, but was unable to continue after just three points had been played in the second set.Next up for the Finn is a meeting with Croatia's
Marin Cilic, who saw off
Edouard Roger-Vasselin in three sets.
Nicolas Kiefer, the 27th seed, joined Nieminen in round two with a routine victory over
Julien Benneteau.
Germany's Kiefer, who is seeded to face Nadal in the third round, won 6-1 7-5 6-3 and will meet
Martin Vassallo Arguello, who beat
Ivo Minar in five sets.
Claycourter
Tommy Robredo has not enjoyed much success at the All England Club down the years, but the 23rd seed is into round two after a four-set victory over
Kristof Vliegen.
Robredo, who has reached round three only once, missed an opportunity to serve out the match in the third set, which Vliegen went on to win on a tie-break.
However, he secured the decisive break in the fourth set for a 6-1 6-3 6-7 6-4 win which takes him through to a meeting with German veteran
Tommy Haas.
Radek Stepanek encountered little difficulty against fellow Czech
Jan Hernych as he marched into the next round with a 6-3 7-5 6-0 victory.
The 16th seed, a potential fourth-round opponent for Nadal, faces Serbia's
Viktor Troicki next.
Nicolas Almagro, seeded 19, won the all-Spanish battle with
Marcel Granollers-Pujol in four sets, 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-2.
One seeded casualty though was
Ivan Ljubicic (26).
The Croat has never prospered on the grass and this time went down in five sets to
Jurgen Melzer, a player who is likely to be back in SW19 in September for Austria's Davis Cup clash with Britain.
One man who won't be back is veteran Swede
Jonas Bjorkman.
He has played his last match at Wimbledon after losing in four sets to
Arnaud Clement.
Bjorkman, who reached the semi-finals two years ago, announced before the tournament that he would retire at the end of the season.
In the ladies' singles, Britain's
Anne Keothavong will face
Venus Williams in the second round after a three-set victory over
Vania King.
The British number one, who is ranked 92nd in the world, lost the first set but came storming back in the second before edging a tight third set for a 4-6 6-2 6-3 success.
Keothavong, in the main draw by right for the first time, will meet defending champion Williams after she beat another Brit
Naomi Cavaday on Centre Court.
Cavaday, who took a set off Martina Hingis 12 months ago, gave the four-time champion a fright by breaking from 40-0 down in the opening game before going on to force a tie-break.
However, once Venus had won the breaker Cavaday, the British number five, quickly ran out of steam as she crashed to a 7-6 6-1 defeat.
Williams applauded Cavaday's display, saying: "She played a great match. She really put a lot of pace on the ball and forced a few errors from me.
"But I felt confident about the match and I felt good out there on the court."
Keothavong will be next to test the champion but she is looking forward to the challenge.
"To play Venus Williams on Centre Court, it is a dream of mine," she said after her win.
"I don't think I've ever played a match on Centre Court. It is what you play tennis for, to play these big matches.
"Venus is the defending champion. She has won God knows how many grand slams.
"I am going to go out there, with nothing to lose and will look forward to it."
The other British hope,
Katie O'Brien, lost in straight sets to Israel's 24th seed
Shahar Peer, 6-3 7-5.
O'Brien had surged ahead with two breaks of serve in the second set, leading 4-0 and 5-1, but Peer reeled off six successive games to go through.
Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion and number three seed, was far from convincing in her opening match but she did enough to defeat
Stephanie Foretz 6-1 6-4.
The world number two will meet fellow Russian
Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round.
Second seed
Jelena Jankovic also dropped just five games as she swept past
Olga Savchuk 6-3 6-2, while
Elena Dementieva will have to rreturn on Wednesday after her match with
Maria Elena Camerin was suspended due to fading light with the fifth seed leading 6-3 3-3.
Lindsay Davenport, who won the singles title in 1999, advanced to round two with a 6-3 5-7 6-3 victory over
Renata Vorocova.
The 25th seed will face
Gisela Dulko of Argentina, following her 1-6 6-0 6-2 success against
Aravane Rezai of France.
French Open runner-up
Dinara Safina beat
Yung-jan Chan of Taiwan 7-6 6-2 to maintain her strong Grand Slam form.
The Russian ninth seed is up against
Su-wei Hsieh next.
Daniela Hantuchova got the better of
Sara Errani in her first outing, winning through 7-6 6-4.
The Slovakian 10th seed, who has reached the quarter-finals only once in seven attempts, meets Russia's
Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.
Flavia Pennetta became the first seeded player to win on the second day of Wimbledon, beating
Julia Vakulenko in straight sets.
Pennetta, the 22nd seed from Italy, won 6-3 6-4 and will face
Ai Sugiyama, a winner over
Yanina Wickmayer.
Caroline Wozniacki, seeded 31, also won through in straight sets, the Dane beating
Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic 6-2 7-5.
In a nightmare for commentators and umpires alike, Wozniacki will face
Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada in round two.
Hungarian 15th seed
Agnes Szavay will meet
Monica Niculescu in round two after the Romanian defeated
Magdalena Rybarikova 1-6 6-3 6-4 in a match which began on Monday evening.
India's 32nd seed
Sania Mirza, who recently returned to action after a wrist injury, twice had to have treatment for a shoulder problem before beating
Catalina Castano.
Mirza beat the Colombian 7-6 3-6 6-4 to win through to a meeting with
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
Sybille Bammer was let off the hook by an injury to
Sofia Arvidsson, who was forced to retire hurt after taking the first set off the 26th seed.
After losing the opener 6-4, Bammer led 4-1 in the second set when Arvidsson withdrew.
Victoria Azarenka, the 16th seed from Belarus made light work of beating Bulgaria's
Tsvetana Pironkova, winning 6-1 6-1.
Francesca Schiavone found the going somewhat tougher, the 20th seed eventually getting the better of
Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-3 5-7 10-8.
And 23rd seed
Katarina Srebotnik lost out in an epic encounter with
Julia Goerges, the unseeded German winning 4-6 7-6 16-14 in three hours and 40 minutes.
