Wimbledon day 1: Rusty Djokovic sees off Kwon, Jabeur crushes Bjorklund

Top seed Novak Djokovic overcame a dogged challenge from 81st-ranked Korean Kwon Soon-woo and his own grass court rustiness to reach the Wimbledon second round with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory on Monday.

The defending champion, bidding for his fourth Wimbledon title in a row and his seventh overall, looked out-of-sorts at times against Kwon, who brought a lively mixture of tennis, from booming forehands to delicate drop-shots, onto Centre Court.

Djokovic had not played a grass court warm-up tournament and he admitted that did not help his game against a tough opponent, 11 years his junior.

“I didn't have any lead-up or preparation tournaments before this so you're always going to feel a bit less comfortable than you would like, particularly if you're playing against someone as talented as Kwon who stays close to the line and hits really clean,” he said.

“It wasn't easy. I had to put some variety in the game. The serve helped but at this level one or two shots decide a winner.”

The 24-year-old Korean broke Djokovic's serve in the fourth game of the second set and went on to win it with a drop-shot and a big serve. But the Serb, aiming to win a 21st Grand Slam title, recovered enough of his trademark consistency to see off the challenge.

He secured victory with an ace on his first match point and will next meet either Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia or Poland's Kamil Majchrzak. It was Djokovic's 80th Wimbledon win and he became the only man to have won 80 matches at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Tunisian third seed Ons Jabeur proved far too strong for Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden, sweeping past the qualifier 6-1 6-3 to book her spot in the second round.

After reaching a career-high ranking of second, 2021 quarterfinalist Jabeur served strongly and dominated from the baseline against the 125th-ranked Bjorklund who made her debut at the grass court Grand Slam this year.

Jabeur arrived in London having lifted a grass court title in Berlin two weeks back and was in an attacking mood in her first career meeting with the 23-year-old Swede on a cloudy day on Court One. The Tunisian broke Bjorklund's serve three times to take the opening set and a single break was enough in the second for Jabeur to seal victory in 53 minutes.

Jabeur converted her first match point when Bjorklund sent a backhand long. She will next meet Canadian Rebecca Marino or qualifier Katarzyna Kawa of Poland for a place in the third round.