Rafa Nadal is safely into the second round at Wimbledon, despite trailing for a while against Michael Russell.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Rafael Nadal reaches the Wimbledon second round after a straight sets victory
- Nadal beats American Michael Russell despite trailing in the opening set
- In the women's draw, there are wins for Venus Williams and Vera Zvonareva
(CNN) -- Defending champion Rafael Nadal is through to the second round of the men's singles at Wimbledon, although he had to survive an early scare before beating American Michael Russell in straight sets.
Spanish top seed Nadal, who is aiming for his third All England title and 11th career grand slam crown, dropped his serve in the opening set and trailed 4-2, before quickly recovering to claim a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory.
Nadal, who also extended his perfect record of never having lost in the opening round of a grand slam to 27 matches, next faces American Ryan Sweeting -- who fought back from two sets down to defeat another Spaniard, Pablo Andjuar.
"It was a big emotion being the first player this year to play on this fabulous Centre Court," Nadal told the official ATP Tour website.
"I'm happy about the victory, especially how I played in the second and the third sets," he continued.
"I started, in my opinion, trying to play too fast in the beginning probably. But my level in general I think was very positive."
Nadal was joined in the second round by fourth seed Andy Murray who survived a nervous start to defeat Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-0 in a match played under the Centre Court roof because of bad weather.
There was no major shocks in the other men's singles matches, where a raft of seeds went through in straight sets.
I'm happy about the victory, especially how I played in the second and the third sets
--Rafael Nadal
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Last year's beaten finalist Tomas Berdych, seeded sixth, crushed Italian Pippo Volandri for the loss of just five games, while ninth seed Gael Monfils of France, American 10th seed Mardy Fish, 14th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and Frenchman Richard Gasquet, seeded 17th, all progressed with ease.
But a seed did go out, with Brazilian 30th seed Thomaz Belluci losing 7-6 6-4 6-2 to German veteran Rainer Schuettler, a semifinalist here in 2008.
Meanwhile, in the women's singles section, five-time champion Venus Williams cruised into the second round with a straight sets victory over Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova.
The 31-year-old American, seeded 23rd this year, showed no signs of the hip injury which kept her off the court for five months, cruising to a 6-3 6-1 win.
Williams now faces 40-year-old Japanese Kimoko Date-Krumm, who became the second oldest winner of a singles match at Wimbledon with a 6-0 7-5 win over Briton Katie O'Brien.
Last year's beaten finalist Vera Zvonareva is also through, but the second-seeded Russian dropped a set on her way to defeating American Alison Riske 6-0 3-6 6-3.
French Open finalist and sixth seed Francesa Schiavone survived a stern test against Australian Jelena Dokic on Centre Court, going through 6-4 1-6 6-3 after a rain delay saw the roof get an early run-out in the tournament.
In other matches, Russian 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova recovered from losing the opening set to see off China's Zhang Shuai 3-6 6-3 6-4, while Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, seeded 19th, also progressed with a 7-5 6-3 success over American Varvara Lepchenko.
But Israel's Shahar Peer had the dubious honor of being the first seed to go out, the 22nd seed losing 5-7 6-4 6-4 to Ksenia Pervak of Russia.
Peer was later joined by 17th-seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who lost 6-1 6-4 to Italian Sara Errani.
Russian 28th seed Ekaterina Makarova alsowent out, beaten 2-6 6-1 8-6 by American Christina McHale.
Play was curtailed early because of heavy rain which forced many matches to be suspended on the outside courts, with 31 of the 64 scheduled ties still to be completed.
