Iga Swiatek did not take long to get her Wimbledon campaign off to a winning start as she easily disposed of Zhu Lin.
The world number one is looking to add to the French Open and US Open titles she has won in the last 10 months and made a convincing opening on Court One, winning 6-1 6-3.
The Pole does not have the best pedigree at SW19, having never made it past the fourth round, but signs are positive that this will be the year she has a proper crack at winning the title.
Chinese Zhu – ranked 34th in the world – was no match for her, with a routine victory only slightly delayed by a rain shower that saw the roof on Court One closed.
A flawless start for the world No.1 👌@iga_swiatek powers into the second round moving past Lin Zhu 6-1, 6-3 👏#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/xu6EFOmtRW
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2023
"I felt really confident. I felt like I did a very good job," said Swiatek. "I feel really good after Roland Garros. After Roland Garros I took some time to appreciate what happened.
"Last year, it was my second grand slam (at the French Open) and it felt overwhelming. This time I could focus on celebrating and actually at getting back to work with more peace in my head."
Coco Gauff was dumped out of the tournament by her fellow American Sofia Kenin in a bruising contest on Court One.
The seventh seed, who made her big breakthrough in SW19 when she got to the fourth round as a 15-year-old in 2019, was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-2.
This was arguably Kenin's best performance since she won the Australian Open in 2020 as she was able to outhit her powerful opponent to incredibly register her first victory in a grand slam match since 2021.
There is a strong rivalry between these two and they went toe-to-toe over two hours and three minutes to leave the crowd enthralled.
Stunning Sofia 🌟
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2023
Qualifier @SofiaKenin prevails in a high-quality battle against fellow American Coco Gauff, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 🙌 #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/vgewwv2RSl
Kenin said in her on-court interview: "I am just super happy, Coco played a tough match, I knew I needed to play my best to win.
"I just tried to stick to my plan and I am just super happy I won before it got dark because I didn’t really feel like finishing it tomorrow, to be honest.
"This means a lot, I had to go through qualies, I battled out there. I took this as just another match. I know Coco has had a great year so I am just super proud of myself."
Fourth seed Jessica Pegula also made it through to the second round, but she was made to work hard against her fellow American Lauren Davis.
After comfortably winning the opener, Pegula was pegged back as it went to a decider only for her to regain control and seal a 6-2 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 victory.
Two-time US Open champion Victoria Azarenka also needed three sets to beat Yuan Yue 6-4 5-7 6-4.
Russian Liudmila Samsonova crashed out as the 15th seed went down 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-4) to Ana Bogdan, making her the biggest casualty on day one.
Olympic champion and 14th seed Belinda Bencic defeated British number six Katie Swan 7-5 6-2.
Venus Williams suffered a nasty fall as her emotional Wimbledon return ended in Centre Court defeat to Elina Svitolina.
The 43-year-old, whose first outing in SW19 came in 1997, was absent from the singles draw last year but was handed a wild card into this year's tournament.
However, the five-time champion's stay did not make it past the opening afternoon as she went down 6-4 6-3 to the Ukrainian having been injured in the opening moments of the match.
It remains to be seen whether this will be her Wimbledon swansong, as it was for her sister Serena 12 months ago, but time is obviously ticking on one of the all-time great tennis careers.
