Djokovic, Serena Williams through at Wimbledon

LONDON — Defending champion Novak Djokovic moved confidently into the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber yesterday.

With no competitive matches in the build-up to the championships after his French Open final loss, Djokovic, on paper at least, had a dangerous opponent in the 33rd-ranked Kohlschreiber.

But the 28-year-old Serbian was clinical on the big points and never looked like becoming the first defending champion to fall in the first round since 2003.

He broke in the 10th game of the opener and squeezed the throttle at the same stage of the second, securing a two-set lead with backhand winner and a roar of delight. Top seed Djokovic cruised through the third set.

“This is the cradle of our sport, it doesn’t get any bigger than Wimbledon Centre Court and it’s an honour and to be defending champion,” he told the BBC. “I had a tough opponent, he can be very tricky especially on the grass but I stayed composed.”

Also through is Serena Williams, who dusted off a few cobwebs to power into the second round at Wimbledon yesterday, surviving an early wobble against Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan to win 6-4 6-1.

The world No 1 made an inauspicious start to her bid for a sixth Wimbledon title and a second non-calendar-year Grand Slam when the lowly ranked Russian broke in the opening game and held on bravely as Williams slowly warmed up.

The frustration was clearly telling on the American as she trailed by a break and 3-2 in the opening set, an audible obscenity earning her a warning from the umpire.

She received little respite from Gasparyan, whose rasping groundstrokes frequently found their target, but Williams discovered her rhythm, broke to level for 3-3 and did not look back.

The 33-year-old broke again when Gasparyan netted a backhand to clinch the first set after 48 minutes and powered away, breaking twice in the second set and crunching away a smash on match point to clinch the victory. REUTERS

Wimbledon on TV: StarHub TV Ch208 from 6.30pm today.