Novak eases through

Novak Djokovic: Straight sets win on opening day

Defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised past Juan Carlos Ferrero to book his place in the second round at Wimbledon on Monday.

The top seed, playing for the first time since his French Open final defeat to Rafael Nadal, began his title defence with a 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory over the Spaniard on the opening day at SW19.

Things did not start so smoothly for Djokovic, who was broken by Ferrero, a former world number one and ex-French Open champion, in the third game of the first set.

But the Serb quickly composed himself, breaking back immediately to make it 2-2 before pushing 5-3 ahead as he took control of the match.

The 25-year-old closed out the first set with an ace in the next game and dominated the second to take it by the same margin.

Nalbo out

Djokovic broke twice in the third set to go 4-0 up before 32-year-old Ferrero, a quarter-finalist in 2007 and 2009, pulled one back on serve to make it 5-1.

But, after just 98 minutes on court, Djokovic clinched the match with an ace in the next game to book an encounter with America's Ryan Harrison or Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan in the next round.

Controversial Queen's runner-up David Nalbandian fell at the first hurdle 6-4 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 to eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic.

Nalbandian, runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2002, spurned five early break points and Tipsarevic took full advantage, breaking in the seventh game before winning the set.

Both players broke each other's serve in the second set, causing a tie-break, which Tipsarevic won after two mini-breaks.

Serbian Tipsarevic wasted five break points in the third set but took a sixth when crashing a backhand in to the corner after a weak serve. Serving to stay in the match, Nalbandian buckled, placing an easy forehand wide to seal his demise.