Second seed Rafael Nadal has begun his Wimbledon campaign with a straight-sets victory on Centre Court over Thomaz Bellucci.
The two-time champion was blown away by Brazilian Bellucci early on and slumped to an early 0-4 deficit thanks to some blistering forehand winners.
Nadal looked on course to lose the opener after the double loss of serve but came back in trademark fashion to level the set at 4-4.
Bellucci steadied himself and managed to hold serve before taking the first to a tie-break, where Nadal won seven points in a row to claim the set.
This dominance in the breaker seemed to extinguish any hope Bellucci had and he was broken twice in the second as Nadal opened up a two-set lead with a 6-2 success.
The Spaniard again got the better of Bellucci's serve at the first chance in the third but this time the Brazilian broke straight back to level the set at 2-2.
Nadal didn't seem to appreciate this turn of events and broke in the sixth game to move ahead 4-2.
He held to love in the next to edge within a game of victory and then duly held serve at the next time of asking to seal the win.
Nadal, 26, will next face either Ivan Dodig or Lukas Rosol on Thursday at SW19.
Pascal Lemesre
