ROGER Federer reminded arch-rival Rafael Nadal what he is missing after starting his pursuit of a sixth Wimbledon title with an emphatic straight sets win over Yen- Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei.

With Nadal unable to defend his title because of a knee injury, Federer was handed the honour of playing the first competitive match on Wimbledon’s newly-redeveloped Centre Court.

The Swiss star, who lost an epic five-set battle against Nadal in last year’s final, responded with a comprehensive 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory, and immediately let the Spaniard know what he had been unable to experience following his enforced withdrawal.

“It’s a great honour to be the first guy out on Centre Court,” said Federer, who will play another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round. “I know there’s been exhibition matches to test the roof and stuff, but it’s not the same as being the first person to play an actual game.

“This is the sixth time I’ve opened Centre Court now, and it’s always a fun thing to do.

It’s what you dream about.

“There are always nerves, but it’s excitement more than anything once the gates start to open at about ten. Rafa has been part of incredibly big matches, so I know he wouldn’t have had a problem handling everything. But it’s still something he might obviously regret a little bit as well. I’m sure that’s what made his decision so difficult.”

Federer made a surprisingly rusty start, dropping serve in the fifth game of the match, but broke back immediately before breaking again to claim the opening set.

The final two sets were little more than a procession, with the second seed’s forehand looking particularly well-honed despite a threeweek lay-off in the wake of this month’s emotional French Open success.

“I knew the danger,” said Federer. “He’s (Lu) beaten good players in the past and the first set was tough. I haven’t had a grass court match yet this year, but I’ve had some good practice matches with people like (Marat) Safin, (Mikhail) Youzhny and (Stanislas) Wawrinka.

“I felt like I was in good shape, and I was happy with the way I played. I thought it was a very solid performance.”

Federer’s main rival in the bottom half of the draw is likely to be Novak Djokovic, but the Serbian number four seed was forced to battle much harder for his place in the second round.

Djokovic took more than three-and-a-half hours to secure a 6-7 7-6 6-2 6-4 victory over Julien Benneteau, with his French opponent pushing him all the way in an especially hard-fought encounter.

Having lost the first set on a tie-break, Djokovic struggled his way through the second set, before finally finding his form in the third. However, the Serb rarely looked comfortable and, if the seedings go to plan in the next two weeks, Federer will have noted some serious weaknesses on the Djokovic return.

American James Blake was the leading male seed to fall on the opening day, despite his run to the final of this month’s AEGON Championships at Queen’s.

The number 17 seed lost 7-5 6-4 7-6 to Italian Andreas Seppi, extending a dreadful run that has seen him fail to progress beyond the third round in all seven of his visits to SW19, and admitted the weakness of his serve was hampering his attempts to establish himself on grass.

“I was playing pretty well at Queen’s, and I thought I had a good chance to do well here,”

said Blake. “But I just didn’t feel like myself and things can change pretty quickly.

“I made a couple of costly errors, and unfortunately I don’t have a serve that’s an enormous weapon like an Andy Roddick or an Ivo Karlovic. I didn’t get any free points on my own serve.”

Number 21 seed Feliciano Lopez also crashed out, losing 10-8 in the final set of a memorable five-setter with the unseeded Karol Beck, but fancied duo Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling both made the second round with four-set wins.

British number one Andy Murray will be the final player on Centre Court this evening as he begins his campaign against American Robbie Kendrick.