Second seed Aryna Sabalenka opened up Wimbledon with a 6-1 6-4 win over Monica Niculescu.
The Belarusian overcame Niculescu’s awkward style to hit 48 winners as she reached the second round.
Sabalenka aims to reach her first grand slam quarter-final at Wimbledon this year in an open half of the draw.
Next for Sabalenka will be either Danielle Lao or Britain’s Katie Boulter.
Unexpectedly this was the first match of the day with rain preventing play on the outside courts.
Walking on court with an excited Court One crowd, seemed to motivate Sabalenka as she used her raw power to make a very positive start.
However there wasn’t only power there was also tactical variation with a mixture of volleys, slices and drop-shots as she gave Niculescu no room to implement her tricky.
In the sixth game the Romanian qualifier eventually managed to get on the board in what was a one-sided opening set.
Sabalenka sealed the opening set 6-1 in 29 minutes as her serve made her unstoppable.
The second set started in pretty similar fashion with Niculescu even resorting to an underarm serve to try and get past the in-form Belarusian.
A 3-0 lead was built and Sabalenka looked as if she was going to cruise to victory.
But Sabalenka got a bit too comfortable with proceedings and allowed Niculescu to get the break back as her slices were starting to be more effective.
An increase in first serve percentage also helped as Niculescu started to test the controlled aggression and patience of Sabalenka.
In the end though it was the second seed who toughed out the victory to move into the second round.
After the match Sabalenka admitted she enjoyed the occasion, “I’ve never played on the centre courts of Wimbledon and I’m really happy to be here today,” she said in her on-court interview.
“She’s tough to play against, a tricky opponent. The support helped me with my nerves today. I got tired a little bit. The legs were starting to be heavier. I wasn’t moving that well and that’s why there were a few more mistakes.”
After a two year absence, Wimbledon returned with a bang and Sabalenka now aims to continue her hard-hitting style as she looks to finally make her grand slam breakthrough.
Next for the Belarusian is Danielle Lao or Katie Boulter on Wednesday.
