Maria Sharapova is through to the second round at Wimbledon after breezing past Britain’s Samantha Murray in straight sets.
The Russian world number five strolled past her opponent, winning 6-1 6-0 in just 58 minutes.
Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki took less than an hour to progress to the second round, beating Julia Glushko 6-2 6 1. The 19th seed received the honour of opening up on Centre Court today in the absence of reigning champion Marion Bartoli, who has retired from tennis.
Caroline Wozniacki is also through after defeating Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-3 6-0, while British No.1 Heather Watson beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-2.
In a match held over from yesterday due to rain, 14th seed Sara Errani was knocked out by France’s Caroline Garcia, who secured a close-fought win 2-6 7-6(3) 7-5.
The 28th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was knocked out at the first hurdle, losing 3-6 6-3 6-1 to Portugal’s Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Elsewhere, French Open semi-finalist Andrea Petkovic had a straightforward win over Katarzyna Piter, 6-1 6-4.
First-round results:
5-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Samantha Murray (Britain) 6-1 6-0 4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Andreea Mitu (Romania) 6-2 6-1 Caroline Garcia (France) beat 14- Sara Errani (Italy) 2-6 7-6(3) 7-5
16-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3 6-0
19-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat Julia Glushko (Israel) 6-2 6-1
20-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Katarzyna Piter (Poland) 6-1 6-4
25-Alize Cornet (France) beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 4-6 6-4 6-2
Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) beat 28-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 3-6 6-3 6-1
Heather Watson (Britain) beat Ajla Tomljanovic (Croatia) 6-3 6-2
Madison Keys (USA) beat Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) 6-3 6-3
Irina Begu (Romania) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 1-6 6-4 7-5
Karolina Pliskova (CzechRepublic) beat Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-7(4) 6-4 10-8
Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) beat Sharon Fichman (Canada) 6-1 6-3