Last year's runner-up Mark Philippoussis put his poor run of form behind him by reaching the second round with a straight-sets victory against Christophe Rochus.
Eleventh seed Philippoussis, who crashed spectacularly to Briton Ian Flanagan in the first round at Queen's two weeks ago, triumphed 6-3 6-4 6-2 against the Belgian qualifier.
But the hard-hitting Australian, who is on course for a fourth-round clash with British number one Tim Henman, struggled to find his range on occasions with 11 double faults peppering his victory.
Russian 19th seed Marat Safin suffered a surprise four set defeat by compatriot Dmitry Tursunov in the first round.
Tursunov, the world number 70, marked his Wimbledon debut with a superb display on court two, beating Safin 4-6 7-5 6-3 7-6.
Safin's preparations for the tournament were disrupted by the severe hand blisters he sustained during the French Open in Paris and the Australian Open runner-up never looked at home under threatening skies at the All England Club.
Tursunov wrapped up his victory with a forehand down the line to take the fourth-set tiebreak 7-1. He faces Armenian Sargis Sargsian in the second round.
Fellow Russian and French Open runner-up Elena Dementieva saw her big chance to reach a second successive Grand Slam final brought to a halt on court 18 today when she crashed out in the first round to Sandra Kleinova.
The sixth-seed, beaten by compatriot Anastasia Myskina at Roland Garros last month, has never been past the fourth round at SW19, but hopes were high the 22-year-old would make progress this time following her inspiring displays in Paris.
However, she met her match this afternoon as the big-hitting Czech player - battling through a knee injury - was happy to trade baseline rallies with Dementieva, whose service game failed to impress in the 6-4 1-6 6-4 defeat.