Bernard Tomic has passed his first test at Wimbledon with flying colours, comfortably beating Russian Evgeny Donskoy in the first round.
The Australian was untroubled in a 6-4 6-3 6-2 win on Monday but faces a daunting challenge next in sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.
Tomic was joined in the second round by Marinko Matosevic, who upset 18th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco for only his second grand slam match win from 14 attempts.
But Samantha Stosur’s Wimbledon woes continued, with Australia’s top-ranked player losing 6-3 6-4 to Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer in round one.
Tomic needed only 85 minutes to dispatch 114th-ranked Donskoy in a controlled performance that followed some encouraging build-up form on grass.
The 21-year-old reached the last 16 at Wimbledon last year but his ranking has plummeted to No.86 after struggling to regain his form since hip surgery in February.
Tomic will likely drop outside the top 100 unless he can upset Berdych, who knocked him out in the fourth round last year.
Berdych opened with a 6-7(7-5) 6-1 6-4 6-3 win over Romanian Victor Hanescu on Monday.
Earlier, Matosevic continued his impressive grand slam resurgence with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-2 win over Verdasco.
Successfully employing a serve-and-volley style encouraged by his coach Mark Woodforde, the Australian world No.58 set up a second-round meeting with either Frenchman Jeremy Chardy or British wildcard Daniel Cox.
It came just a month after Matosevic broke his long-standing duck in major tournaments at the French Open, beating Dustin Brown for his first grand slam match win in 13 attempts.
Stosur, the 17th seed, continued a dismal run at the grass court grand slam in a 6-3 6-4 loss to world No.69 Wickmayer.
She has never been past the third round at Wimbledon in 12 attempts.
“I still think I’m a good enough player to get through first rounds here and for whatever reasons it’s not happening,” Stosur said.
Sam Groth, Luke Saville, Casey Dellacqua and Jarmila Gajdosova were other Australians in action later on Monday.
