Jannik Sinner made a winning start to his quest for Wimbledon glory, seeing off Yannick Hanfmann 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-3 on No.1 Court. (More Tennis News)
The new world number one is the first Italian to be the top seed in the men's singles event at SW19, and is fresh from landing his maiden ATP title on grass in Halle last time out.
Two break points were enough to put Sinner two sets to the good against Hanfmann, who was seeking his first victory in three main-draw appearances at Wimbledon.
The German responded in the third set to halve the deficit, but his opponent was not to be denied as he sealed the win in just under three hours.
Up next for Sinner is a mouth-watering all-Italian second-round clash against former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini, who won 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 3-6 6-1 against Marton Fucsovics to progress.
Earlier in the day on the same court as Sinner, fifth seed Daniil Medvedev moved safely into the second round.
Despite some difficult preparation for the tournament, Medvedev defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3 6-4 6-2 in just one hour and 47 minutes, firing down 16 aces and not being broken throughout the contest.
Data Debrief: Sinner picks up the baton
Sinner hit 16 aces and 47 winners to 30 unforced errors, while converting four out of five break points as he saw off world number 110 Hanfmann.
In his first major outing since officially becoming world number one, he extended the Wimbledon winning streak of players atop of the ATP rankings to 22 matches.
The last such defeat came exactly 2,178 days ago, when Rafael Nadal was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the 2018 semi-finals.
Earlier on, Medvedev overcame Kovacevic to claim his 230th ATP match win since the start of the 2020 season - the most of any player during this decade, and six clear of nearest challenger Andrey Rublev (224).
