Nadal avoids Beck pain

Second seed Rafael Nadal came through a surprisingly strenuous workout against German qualifier Andreas Beck before moving into the second round with a straight sets win on Centre Court.

The Spaniard had good cause to be surprised by the consistency of his opponent, the world number 122 who was making his grand slam debut and competing in his first ever senior event outside his homeland.

But Beck served well and provided the sort of booming groundstrokes which might have lacked Nadal’s verve and variety but still gave the favourite plenty to think about.

Never unduly challenged on his own serve, Nadal secured breaks in the seventh and third games, respectively, of the first two sets then raced through a third set tie-break to wrap up a 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7/0) victory.

In fact, Nadal’s biggest challenge came in the very first point of the match when he summoned a video decision on a Beck forehand towards the tramlines and was ruled incorrect by a fraction of an inch.

It was a useful exercise for Nadal, who only had cause to show glimpses of the kind of swashbuckling form which has prompted many Wimbledon legends led by Bjorn Borg to make the Spaniard favourite for the title.

And his early-round education will continue in the second round where Nadal faces a potentially much trickier test against rising Latvian star Ernests Gulbis, a winner over towering American John Isner in four sets.