Murray begins defense with easy win in Wimbledon opener

Andy Murray got his Wimbledon title defense off to a strong start on Monday in a rain-interrupted victory at the All England Club in London.

The Scot improved to 54-9 at the Grand Slam event, where he captured the 2013 and 2016 titles, with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexander Bublik of Russia on Centre Court.

The 30-year-old world No. 1, who came into the grass-court tournament slowed by a hip injury, hit 29 winners and maintained his form either side of a rain break in the third set to win in one hour, 43 minutes.

“With the adrenaline, it helps numb some pain that you might have and I moved well today,” Murray told BBC Sport afterward. “I thought I did pretty well for the first match.”

Rafael Nadal, playing in his first grass-court match since Wimbledon in 2015, also advanced to the second round.

The fourth-seeded Spaniard, who won his 10th French Open title last month, beat John Millman of Australia 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 on No. 1 Court.

Fifth-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland was the first major upset victim of the tournament. The world No. 3 fell in four sets to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Murray continued to limp between points as he had since resuming practice on Friday. He lost in the first round at Queen’s Club two weeks ago and then picked up the hip injury which forced him to withdraw from two exhibition matches and curtail his practice.

The 20-year-old Bublik, ranked No. 135, started in a confident manner by keeping the points short, but could not convert two break-point opportunities in the first game.

Murray soon seized control. From 1-1 in the first set to a 2-0 lead in the second set, he won seven straight games.

Rain at the start of the third set saw the players head off Centre Court — the roof was kept open — and back to the locker room. After a 34-minute interruption, Murray resumed with a 2-0 lead and broke again in the seventh game to complete the victory.

“I wasn’t thinking about the rain too much. I felt comfortable underfoot today,” Murray said. “In the first few days, normally the court is a bit lush and can be a bit slippery, but I didn’t feel like I was losing my footing at all.”

Murray has a 30-0 record at the Grand Slam championships against players outside of the top 100 in the ATP Rankings.

Murray will next face Germany’s Dustin Brown, who beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Brown has lost his only match against Murray, but he will be hoping to draw on memories of his 2015 Wimbledon second-round win over Nadal.

“Either way he’s the favorite,” Brown said. “I can be pretty relaxed and try and play my game. If I lose in three sets no one is going to worry. I will just go out there and try my best.”

Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion, earned his 850th match win, becoming just the seventh men’s player to reach that total.

Nadal missed last year’s Wimbledon because of a left wrist injury and skipped last month’s Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club to rest following his record-breaking clay-court season. He won 24 of his 25 matches, including four titles, on the red clay.

“I have been playing good tennis since the beginning of the season,” Nadal said. “The clay-court season has been special and emotional and here I have an opportunity to perform on grass.”

Nadal will next meet American Donald Young, who was up 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-2 when Denis Istomin of Russia retired.

Wawrinka, a three-time major champion, iced his left knee throughout the match and could not keep up with the 21-year-old Medvedev, who posted his first victory in a Grand Slam event.

“First of all, it’s my first Grand Slam win. So even if I didn’t beat Stan, it would be one of the biggest wins in my life,” said Medvedev. “I have no words to describe this. I guess this memory will be with me forever.”

The ailing knee aside, the setback continued a string of futility for Wawrinka, who reached the finals of the French Open. He has lost in the first round at Wimbledon six times.

No. 7 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia had 15 aces in dispatching Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Cilic advanced to a second-round match against Florian Mayer of Germany.

Earlier in the day, ninth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan wasted little time in recording his 30th grass-court victory with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 win over Marco Cecchinato of Italy in 72 minutes. Nishikori converted seven of his nine break-point opportunities and hit 35 winners.

Nishikori will now face France’s Julien Benneteau or Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine in the second round.

“This is the only Grand Slam that I haven’t done well in,” Nishikori said. “I have never made it to the quarterfinals. That’s always my motivation, to get into the second week. I think the past couple of years, I been playing well on grass. I’m fit again, so I hope I can make it.”

French No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through with his 150th Grand Slam championship match (113-37) in fine form when he struck 30 winners, including eight aces, in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over wild card Cameron Norrie of Britain in 88 minutes.

Tsonga will next meet Italian Simone Bolelli, who beat Yen-Hsun Lu Taipei 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“It’s never easy at the start of a tournament,” Tsonga said. “The first round, you’re looking for something, for a good level of tennis. Today, I had the possibility to work on my game and see how it went.”

Lucas Pouille, the No. 14 seed and a countryman of Tsonga, needed four sets before moving on with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over Malek Jaziri, while 16th-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg won in straight sets over Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, the disappointment was etched all over Nick Kyrgios’ face. Having sustained a left hip injury at the Aegon Championships two weeks ago, the Australian No. 20 seed had worked tirelessly to get fully fit for Wimbledon.

On Monday, Kyrgios found that time had run out when he fell behind 6-3, 6-4 and retired from the match.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France was solid on serve — losing just five of his first service points — in 58 minutes of play, before Kyrgios called time on the first-round match.

“I kind of knew I was in trouble,” said Kyrgios, the 2014 quarterfinalist. “I have been feeling my hip ever since I fell over at Queen’s. I never got it right. I was doing everything I could to help it, but just not enough time.

“I thought I could win. Obviously, probably not against him, but some opponents if I played them today, I probably still could have won. … I could feel it a lot. It was hindering my performance a lot.”

Herbert will now face fellow countryman Benoit Paire, who grounded out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10), 6-4 win over Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.

American Sam Querrey, seeded 24th, also advanced with a 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-2 win over Thomas Fabbiano of italy.

Aljaz Bedene of Great Britain gave the home fans reason to cheer by outlasting Ivo Karlovic in a five-set marathon that lasted four hours, 25 minutes.

The duo combined for 72 aces (44 by Karlovic) and there was not a break of serve until the deciding set, with Bedene finally prevailing 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 7-6 (7), 8-6.

It marked the first time at Wimbledon that a match reached 6-6 in the fifth set without a break of serve.