Defending champion Andy Murray celebrated the news that he's about to become a father again by reaching the Wimbledon second round Monday as fellow two-time winner Rafael Nadal clinched the 850th win of his career.
Top seed and world number one Murray downed Kazakh lucky loser Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, shrugging off two brief rain delays and showing little sign of the hip problem which had plagued him in the build-up.
"I have felt OK the last few days and the adrenaline you feel by playing a match numbs any pain you may have," said the British star after seeing off world number 134 Bublik who was making his grass court debut.
Murray, whose baby daughter Sophia was born last year, next faces Dustin Brown, the man who knocked out Nadal two years ago.
German world number 97 Brown came back from a set and a break down to beat Portugal's Joao Sousa 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4.
Milestone win for Nadal
Nadal stormed into the second round as the world number two secured his 850th career victory with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 demolition of Australia’s John Millman.
Fresh from winning his 10th French Open title last month, Nadal marked his 50th match at Wimbledon by crushing Millman in one hour and 46 minutes on Court One.
The two-time Wimbledon champion is just the seventh player to reach the 850-win mark, joining Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Guillermo Villas.
Nadal will play Donald Young for a place in the last 32 as he bids to win Wimbledon for the first time since 2010.
Nick Kyrgios, who shocked Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014, won't get another opportunity.
The combustible 20th seeded Australian was 6-3, 6-4 down to France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert when he called it quits on Court Three after failing to shake off the hip injury which has plagued him in recent weeks.
Kei Nishikori, the Japanese ninth seed, beat Italy's Marco Cecchinato 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 in just 72 minutes.
French 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, twice a semifinalist, eased past British wild card Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Women's second seed Simona Halep, blasted off court in the French Open final by Jelena Ostapenko, downed New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic 6-4, 6-1.
Halep, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2014, next faces Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maria.
Venus Williams posted a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 win against Belgium's Elise Mertens. Venus will face China's Wang Qiang for a place in the last 32.
Kvitova off the mark
Two-time champion Petra Kvitova made a victorious return on Monday after the knife attack that threatened to end her career.
The world number 12 had a relatively tough first round opponent in Sweden's Johanna Larsson, ranked number 53.
But the Czech number two triumphed 6-3, 6-4 in a match on Centre Court watched by Prince William's wife Kate, the patron of the All England Club and a sympathetic crowd.