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Roger Federer began his quest for a seventh Wimbledon title by brushing aside Kazakhstan debutant Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-2.
The 29-year-old Swiss was dominant on serve throughout and seemed unconcerned when he was taken to a first set tie-break by the world number 61.
Federer was barely troubled after that, outclassing his 23-year-old opponent to wrap up his win in one hour 42 minutes.
The third seed plays Adrian Mannarino or Ireland’s Conor Niland in round two.
Federer, who has not played a warm-up event on grass this year after missing Halle with a sore groin, was nowhere near his fluent best, but a repeat of last year’s first-round scare, when he went two sets down to Alejandro Falla before fighting back, never looked likely.
He seemed content to ease himself into this year’s Championships as he began his bid to equal Pete Sampras’s record number of singles triumphs at SW19, keeping his inexperienced opponent at arm’s length and striking when necessary.
Kukushkin acquitted himself well on serve in the early stages but did not get close to threatening a break in the first set, winning only one point in the first five games on Federer’s serve.
That pattern continued into the tie-break, with Federer stepping up a gear to break twice at 3-2, then sealing the set with two aces.
Some strong gusts of wind on Centre Court saw both players make mistakes at the start of the second set but Federer took control when he broke to go 3-2 up.
Kukushkin’s best spell followed immediately afterwards, when he at last got to grips with the Federer serve, but his first break-back point came and went when Federer slammed down another big serve, and he wasted his second when he slammed a wild forehand long.
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