Nadal & Murray Ease Through

Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray both won their first round matches in straight sets at Wimbledon on Tuesday on a day where few top seeds had much trouble.

Nadal won 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, 6-3 over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, while local hope and fourth seed Murray got past former Russian star Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.

The French Open champion told reporters afterwards: “It’s always tough to make the change from clay to grass, especially when over the last couple of months I played almost every match on tour. Physically you start having some troubles.

“I’m very happy to be back on probably the best court in the world and winning in three sets is good for me.”

Meanwhile, Murray said: “I struck the ball well. I tried to use the slice to mix it up and it worked well.

“I played well and once I got ahead I wanted to make sure I didn’t let him back in. I needed to stay concentrated on my serve and I did it well. It was such a convincing victory.”

In the women’s, second seed Victoria Azarenka eased past Irina Falconi in straight sets, while four-time Wimbledon champ Serena Williams defeated Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova in two.

Serena’s sister Venus was knocked out in the first round on Monday and the American said: “It always has some sort of effect. I always want to play better if she’s out of the tournament.”