Wimbledon: Nadal survives an early barrage from Brazilian

RAFAEL Nadal was given an early working over but had more than enough in reserve to win his Wimbledon first-round match against Thomaz Bellucci.

Gunning for a third title at the All England Club, the Spaniard served as a punchbag over the course of the first four games as the free-hitting Bellucci landed winners from all over the court.

The Brazilian found himself 4-0 ahead as a result before Nadal, an 11-time grand slam winner, dug his heels in and got his forehand working, seeing out a 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-3 win to secure a meeting with Michael Russell. “I don’t think I played my best match today. Especially in the first set, I was too nervous and didn’t know what to do,” the 26-year-old said.

“But I was able to keep winning the first set. That’s the important thing and the good news. Then I started to play better. The second and third set I played better, even if I made mistakes. I felt in that moment I started to hit my forehand better. That’s the most important thing for me. In the beginning I didn’t start the best, but I finished well so I’m happy.”

Wimbledon’s honours board is littered with Australian greats but the gradual decline in the country’s fortunes on the famous lawns reached a new low when, for the first time since 1938, they failed to get a man into the second round.

Lleyton Hewitt, the last Australian to win the title in 2002, was beaten in straight sets by fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, new kid on the block Bernard Tomic, a quarter-final reaching qualifier last year, capitulated against Belgian wildcard David Goffin and Matthew Ebden was also bundled out.

Jarkko Nieminen took four sets to get past Feliciano Lopez and ninth seed Juan Martin del Potro needed the same to see off Robin Haase. Marin Cilic knocked out Cedrik-Marcel Stebe while Nicolas Almagro and Nicolas Mahut both returned yesterday morning to complete games hanging over from Monday, both winning in five.

Philipp Kohlschreiber emerged from an all-German battle with Halle champion Tommy Haas victorious, while those on the outside courts also saw wins for the likes of Sam Querrey, Marcos Baghdatis and Go Soeda.