Third seed Carlos Alcaraz endured an early test in his Wimbledon title defence but the Spaniard crushed the challenge from Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal 7-6(3), 7-5, 6-2 and moved into the second round on Monday.

The 21-year-old, bidding to add a fourth grand slam trophy to his cabinet after his maiden French Open triumph last month, dropped serve midway through a high-quality opening set before battling back to clinch it in a tiebreak.

Lajal broke Alcaraz again early in the next set but the dreadlocked world No. 269 was unable to make the advantage count and his opponent broke back to love immediately before pouncing again in the 11th game.

With the momentum having swung, Alcaraz continued to reel off the points for a two-set lead and raised his game further in the third to break with a superb backhand crosscourt winner and he never looked back from there to close out the victory.

Jannik Sinner wobbled midway through his first-round clash with unseeded German Yannick Hanfmann but the world No.1 recovered to seal a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win and book a meeting with fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini.

The Australian Open champion used his powerful serve and forehand to good effect against Hanfmann as he breezed through the first set on the back of a solitary break and got his nose in front early in the next.

Hanfmann hung on and heaped pressure on Sinner’s serve but was unable to find a way through and the 22-year-old top seed moved two sets ahead.

The world No. 110 flipped the script to go 4-0 up in the third set as Sinner appeared to be belatedly hampered by a nasty fall, and the German cupped his ear amid huge cheers after forcing a fourth set with a neat volley.

There was to be no comeback, however, as Sinner rediscovered his rhythm under the lights on Court One to break for a 3-1 lead and held firm from to close out the match.

Happy Ruud

No one would blame Casper Ruud if he gave the elaborate salad bar laid on for competitors in the Wimbledon player’s restaurant a miss this year after he spent a few weeks in bed trying to shake off a stomach ailment caused by a “small parasite”.

“I went home the day after (losing at Roland Garros) and kept feeling quite bad for a full week. I had no appetite,” Ruud told reporters after he reached the second round by defeating Australian qualifier Alex Bolt 7-6, 6-4, 6-4.

“I took some tests and found out that I had this kind of uncommon small parasite that I had been infected with through not sure where.”

Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev strode confidently and cheerfully into the second round with an assured 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over American Aleksandar Kovacevic on his favourite Court One.

The lofty 28-year-old Russian took one hour 46 minutes to dispose of the 88th-ranked New Yorker, who could not cope with his booming serve and whipped forehand.

Medvedev, chasing a second grand slam title after his 2021 US Open triumph, fired 16 aces on his way to victory over the 25-year-old Kovacevic.

He won the first set at a canter after breaking Kovacevic’s first service game, took the second with a pair of aces after breaking in the seventh and ran away with the third, clinching it on this third match point with another ace.

See-saw match

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka navigated a tricky first round match against France’s Diane Parry, eventually winning 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 with the help of some nervous serving from her opponent.

The 26-year-old Japanese looked to be in total command in the first set but appeared to lose concentration in the second set.

The match see-sawed into the third set where Osaka saved break points in a difficult ninth game to lead 5-4 before Parry’s serve crumbled and she produced three double faults to concede the match.

Emma Raducanu snapped a dispiriting sequence of first-round defeats for British players at grand slams as the wildcard beat Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 7-6(0), 6-3.

French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini and ninth seed Maria Sakkari were among the early winners.

Seventh seed Paolini, who lost to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros last month, was a comfortable 7-5, 6-3 winner over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. Sakkari defeated world No. 119 McCartney Kessler of the US 6-3, 6-1.

Nagal falters

India’s top singles player Sumit Nagal, who was making his maiden appearance in the men’s singles main draw at Wimbledon, went down 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 to the higher-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the first round. Nagal is world No. 72 while Kecmanovic is ranked No. 53.