Fourth seed Novak Djokovic recovered from a set down to see off a brave Julien Benneteau.
Benneteau proves a tough opponent for world number four
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic came from a set down to defeat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 6-4 in the first round of Wimbledon.
Benneteau won a dramatic first-set tie-break to put himself in the driving seat but the Serb kept his nerve and responded with a tie-break win of his own in the second set.
Djokovic then forged ahead in the third, breaking his opponent's serve twice to put him within one set of victory.
A bruised and battered Benneteau finally succumbed at the end of the fourth set when he misfired on match point, sending Djokovic into the second round.
The world number 81 took a shock lead after a back-and-forth tie break that included 18 points and saw both players pass-up chances to win the set.
Convincing
After 12 games of the second set, the two players were inseparable again and went into another breaker.
However, Djokovic did not make the same mistakes again and convincingly won the set with a six-point margin.
After an easy third set win for the world number four, the contest looked over but Benneteau threatened to force a decider during an exciting fifth set.
Benneteau, who had slipped and hurt his knee earlier in the match, did further damage to himself when he crashed into the screen at the back of the court trying to reach a Djokovic lob.
The Frenchman called for the trainer and was on the floor for several minutes, but saved a match point when he returned to action.
In the end, a fifth set was not needed as Djokovic secured a break of serve that finally confirmed his place in round two.
