Tennis: Spain's Rafael Nadal advanced to the second round of Wimbledon today, despite being pushed all the way by America's Mardy Fish. Britain's Tim Henman, free of the burden of expectation due to his recent poor form, edged out Carlos Moya in five sets after their match resumed on Centre Court.
Second-seed Nadal was not at his sparkling best but he proved too strong for the big-serving American, winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes on Centre Court.
In the process, he offered further evidence of his growing confidence on grass even though the soft surface, due to days of wet weather, is hardly conducive to his baseline game.
Nadal, who clinched his third successive French Open crown earlier this month, looked at ease on the lush turf of SW19 from the outset.
"I felt very good today," he said afterwards. "I returned very well. There was just one moment in the third set when my serve went off. But that's normal.
"I need to improve on that a little bit. Need to improve the second serve. But the rest, especially playing from the baseline was very, very good. I am feeling good."
Next up for the left-hander is a meeting with Austria's Werner Eschauer.
Henman made his way into the second round thanks to an epic 6-3, 1-6, 5-7, 6-2, 13-11 win over Nadal's compatriot Moya.
The old rivals resumed their match this afternoon at two sets each and five games all, after they played into near darkness last night when Henman tossed away a series of match points.
The Briton was nowhere near as wasteful in today's short spell on Centre Court and dug out 13-11 win in the final set.
Australia's Lleyton Hewitt also progressed after a three-set win over Briton Richard Bloomfield.
After taking the opening two sets, the Australia was forced to be patient in the third as the first 10 games went with serve. It paid off, however, when an untimely double fault from Bloomfield presented him with two break points.
Hewitt took full advantage, a dipping return at Bloomfield's feet forcing the Briton to push a difficult half-volley inches wide.
The former world number one then served out to love to complete a 7-5 6-3 7-5 victory.
James Blake kept his promise to restore American pride when he joined Andy Roddick in the second round.
Once known as a powerhouse in the sport, US men's tennis sank to a new low last month after no American man reached the second round of the French Open for the first time in 40 years.
Although Blake fulfilled his pledge, he had to defend the state of US tennis as only he and Roddick have so far survived their first-round tests at the grasscourt slam.
"We've got a long way to go to appease the American public's ideas of what it takes to have a good American tennis scene right now," the ninth seed said following his quickfire 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over Russian Igor Andreev.
"Tennis in America is doing great. It was one of those coincidences or bad luck incidents where we had everything go wrong at the French Open. I just hope that doesn't happen again for a long time, especially as long as I'm playing."
Out of the 14 Americans who started in the men's draw, nine have already gone out.