Wimbledon 2019: Defending champ Djokovic safely into second round with win over Kohlschreiber

Top seed Novak Djokovic eased past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber as the Serbian tennis ace began the defense of his Wimbledon title on Monday.

Number one seed Djokovic beat world number 57 Kohlschreiber in straight sets on Centre Court, 6-3 7-5 6-3. 

Djokovic, 32, is aiming to win his fifth title at the All England Club and 16th Grand Slam in total and has never lost in 15 first-round games at Wimbledon. 

The Serb did not have it all his own way against Kohlschreiber, who broke him in the very first game of the match and also at the start of the second set.

But the world number one’s class shone through as he wrapped up victory in straight sets to head into a second-round tie with Denis Kudla of the US.

Elsewhere on Monday, last season’s beaten finalist Kevin Anderson beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert, with the South African winning 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Swiss star Stan Wawrinka cruised past Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans in straight sets.  

In the women’s draw, seventh seed Simona Halep of Romania overcame an ankle injury to battle past Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, while Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova beat China’s Lin Zhu in two sets.    

There was also victory for Ukrainian eight seed Elina Svitolina, who defeated Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 7-5 6-0.  

The biggest shock so far at the All England Club came as 10th seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus was dumped out by world number 139 Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia in straight sets.