Djokovic makes super start

Serena, Sharapova, Azarenka and Ivanovic get off the blocks in fine fashion

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and five-time women's winner Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday as organisers boosted security and weathermen ramped up warnings of a crushing heatwave.

Top seed Djokovic enjoyed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber with crucial breaks in the ninth game of each set and goes on to face either 2004 champion Lleyton Hewitt or Jarkko Nieminen for a place in the last 32.

"This is the cradle of our sport," said Djokovic, playing his first match since his defeat to Stan Wawrinka at the final of the French Open three weeks ago ended his hopes of completing a career Grand Slam.

Djokovic, also the 2011 champion, hit 12 aces and 36 winners past world number 33 Kohlschreiber.

Top seed Williams, bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to wrap up all four majors in one season, endured a nervy start, dropping serve and being warned for swearing, before completing a 6-4, 6-1 win over Margarita Gasparyan, the world number 113 from Russia who has never won a tour match in four years as a professional.

In other early action Monday, Spanish ninth seed Carla Suarez Navarro went down 6-2, 6-0 to Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in just 52 minutes while Italian 24th seed Flavia Pennetta lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas.

Two-time semi-finalist Victoria Azarenka, seeded 23, saw off Estonia's Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-1 and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic breezed past China's Fan Xu-yi 6-1, 6-1.

In the men's first round, Australia's 26th seed Nick Kyrgios, who knocked out Rafael Nadal last year, eased past Argentina's Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).

US Open champion Marin Cilic, the ninth seeded Croatian and a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, got past Japanese qualifier Hiroki Moriya 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

Fourth seed Maria Sharapova reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Britain's Johanna Konta. Sharapova, the 2004 champion, will face either Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands or China's Wang Qiang for a place in the last 32.

High security
On the first day of the 2015 championships, security was stepped up in the aftermath of the weekend jihadist killings of 38 tourists in Tunisia, most of whom were British.

Spectators were subjected to the usual bag checks at the entrances to the All England Club in southwest London, where police officers were visible around the perimeter and inside the grounds.

Britain's national terror threat level is currently at "severe", meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

Fourth seed Maria Sharapova reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Britain's Johanna Konta.

Sharapova, the 2004 champion, will face either Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands or China's Wang Qiang for a place in the last 32.

Bopanna through
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea began their campaign with a hard-fought win over over Tim Smyczek and Jiri Vesley in the men’s doubles.  The ninth-seeded Indo-Romanian pair eked out a 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1 win over the unseeded American-Czech team in one hour and 26  minutes on court No 19.