Novak Djokovic cruised into the second round at Wimbledon, downing Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in straight sets on Tuesday in London.
Nearly one month removed from knee surgery, Djokovic entered the opening-round match with questions about his health but dominated on Centre Court, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
The 37-year-old Serb had 10 aces and scored points on about 90 percent of his first serves (35 of 39).
“I try to really focus on the game and not really think too much about the knee. Everything I could possibly do I’ve done along with my team in the last three-and-a-half weeks to give myself a chance to play in front of you today,” Djokovic said. “I think if it was any other tournament I wouldn’t risk it as much. I just love Wimbledon. I love coming back here.”
The seven-time Wimbledon champion improved to 19-0 in the first round at Wimbledon. His second-round opponent is Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (12) winner against Spain’s Alejandro Moro Canas.
Kopriva, 27, made his Grand Slam debut earlier this year with an opening-round loss at the Australian Open.
No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia was shown the door early by World No. 122 Francisco Comesana of Argentina. In his Grand Slam debut and just his second career match on grass, Comesana defeated Rublev 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Comesana fired 21 aces past Rublev, saved eight of 10 break points and broke Rublev’s serve four times in five opportunities.
No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany had an easier go of things, defeating Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
“Obviously, first rounds are never easy, but I’m happy with how I started the tournament,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “I want to compete, I want to do well here at Wimbledon. It’s the most historic tennis tournament that we have.”
No. 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland overcame a slow start to defeat Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. No. 9 Alex de Minaur needed three straight tiebreakers to best fellow Australian James Duckworth 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).
No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 13 Taylor Fritz, No. 15 Holger Rune of Denmark and No. 30 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina each advanced in straight sets. No. 25 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy rallied to a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2 victory over France’s Constant Lestienne.
No. 14 seed Ben Shelton completed a 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Italian Mattia Bellucci. British No. 28 seed Jack Draper hung on for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Sweden’s Elias Ymer, while French lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard held on for a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over No. 20 Sebastian Korda in three hours and 21 minutes.
Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild needed four hours and one minute to overcome British wild card Paul Jubb 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5. Seyboth Wild saved one match point in the third-set tiebreaker as he took control of the match. Jubb saved five match points in the ninth game of the fifth set before Seyboth Wild finished him off.
Other first-round winners included Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, Italy’s Luciano Darderi and Flavio Cobolli, France’s Arthur Fils, Marcos Giron, Spain’s Jaume Munar, Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka and Australians Alexei Popyrin and Adam Walton.
