Eight-time champion Roger Federer reached the Wimbledon second round for a 17th successive year on Tuesday, overcoming a first set blip to beat South Africa’s Lloyd Harris.
Federer, 37 and bidding to become the oldest Grand Slam champion, claimed a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over the 86th-ranked Harris who was making his Wimbledon debut.
Harris’s challenge was eventually compromised by needing treatment on a left calf strain.
“I struggled early on, my legs were frozen and the ball was not going where I wanted it to,” said Federer. “He was hitting big and things were going quickly. I was nervous for a set and a half. So it took a good effort from me. Lloyd played a good match.”
Second seed Federer, who now has 96 wins at the tournament, will face British wildcard Jay Clarke next.
Rafael Nadal meanwhile set-up a blockbuster rematch with bitter Australian rival Nick Kyrgios after seeing off Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
Kyrgios, who stunned Nadal as a 144-ranked wildcard on his tournament debut in 2014, put in a typically raucous and charismatic display on Court 3 to notch a 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-6 (12/10), 0-6, 6-1 win over fellow Australian Jordan Thompson.
In a match where he fired 23 aces and 63 winners, the 24-year-old argued with the umpire, slumped over the net and played dead. He also hit an underarm serve on set point in the third set, shaped to imitate a forward defensive cricket shot and celebrated a point by running around madly in a circle.
On Tuesday, Kyrgios put on a trademark display.
After dropping the second set, he needed a medical timeout for a leg injury before attempting – and failing – to finish the third set with an underarm serve.
He eventually took the set on an eighth set point before conceding an 18-minute fourth set in which he collected just five points. However, two breaks in a more composed decider setted the tie.
Two-time French Open runner-up Dominic Thiem was knocked out in the first round losing to veteran American Sam Querrey 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-0.
The 25-year-old Austrian fifth seed does not find grass to his liking – his best showing reaching the last 16 in 2017 – and wilted under the expert serve and volley game of Querrey.
Querrey, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2017, will next play Andrey Rublev of Russia or Cristian Garin of Chile.
Thiem joins fellow top-10 seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev in being toppled in the first round.
Earlier, Japan’s Kei Nishikori eased into the second round beating Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
The 29-year-old eighth seed, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, never gave Monteiro a hope of an upset.
Nishikori – whose best Grand Slam performance was reaching the 2014 US Open final – will play either experienced Uzbek Denis Istomin or Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the second round.
Results
1st rd
Sam Querrey (USA) bt Dominic Thiem (AUT x5) 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-0
Gilles Simon (FRA x20) bt Salvatore Caruso (ITA) 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-2
Dan Evans (GBR) bt Federico Del Bonis (ARG) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO x18) bt James Ward (GBR) 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 8-6
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) bt Jordan Thompson (AUS) 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-6 (12/10), 0-6, 6-1
Kei Nishikori (JPN x8) bt Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4
Cameron Norrie (GBR) bt Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
Steve Johnson (USA) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
Alex De Minaur (AUS x25) bt Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 6-0, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Matteo Berrettini (ITA x17) bt Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3)
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) bt Brayden Schnur (CAN) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
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