Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu and Novak Djokovic all secured opening victories on day one of a rain-disrupted Wimbledon Championships.
Murray closed the day on centre court with a four-set victory over a beleaguered James Duckworth, who went down 6-4 3-6 2-6 4-6 to the two-time champion.
The world number 52 was not moving completely comfortably throughout the contest amid his recent injury problems but managed to prevail in somewhat bizarre circumstances.
A double fault from Duckworth handed Murray the opportunity to serve for the match, and he sealed the victory after an incorrect challenge from the Australian on his serve.
Raducanu's debut on centre court saw the US Open champion march to a 6-4 6-4 victory over Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck, and the Brit had seemingly shaken off the side strain which plagued her earlier in the grass court season.
The 19-year-old comfortably served for the first set as Van Uytvanck sent a backhand into the net but was immediately broken for 3-1 in the second set, although not before the crowd thought she had saved the break point.
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Raducanu found her way back into the battle and was handed the chance to serve for the match after a double fault from Van Uytvanck, ultimately taking her second match point on centre court.
"It's an incredibly special feeling to be back here at Wimbledon. The tough times are all worth it to play on centre court and come through with a win," Raducanu said on her on-court interview.
Meanwhile, defending champion Djokovic was given quite the scare against an inspired Kwon Soon-woo and needed four sets to get the better of the 75th-ranked South Korean.
Kwon earned the first break of the match in the third game before Djokovic won five games in a row to turn the contest on its head, but the defending champion was up against it in the second.
A delightful drop shot from Kwon handed him a set point, which he took as Djokovic could only return long from his powerful serve, levelling the scores in the process.
However, an ace from Djokovic at 5-3 in the third set saw the six-time champion move into a 2-1 lead in the match, and he needed just a solitary break in set four to advance to the second round.
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Cameron Norrie and Jodie Burrage kicked off a rain-disrupted morning for Great Britain on day one, and the former raced into a one-set lead against Spain's Pablo Andujar with just 23 minutes on the clock.
The British number one served Andujar a bagel in a dominant opening set before a lengthy delay due to rain, but the Spaniard immediately broke back in the second to set up a closer affair.
Norrie eventually edged the tie-break to move into a two-set lead and then failed to take three match points before the rain came again, but he clinched the fourth with a down-the-line forehand winner to advance to round two.
However, there was no similar success story for Burrage, who briefly swapped the tennis racquet for a first aid kit as she tended to an unwell ballboy during her contest with Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
Burrage was on hand to deliver drinks and sweets to the ballboy, who was assisted off the court before the British wildcard bowed out in straight sets 2-6 3-6 to Tsurenko.
Further British action later in the day saw Yuriko Miyazaki lose 6-4 1-6 6-7 [4-10] to Caroline Garcia, while Jack Clarke was two sets down against Chris Harrison before play was suspended for the day.
Elsewhere, Hubert Hurkacz lost a five-set thriller with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after being broken when serving for the match, and there were also wins for the likes of Casper Ruud, Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, Ons Jabeur and Angelique Kerber.
> Click here for a roundup of day two's action
Ben Knapton
