Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates after the men's singles first round match against Lloyd Harris of South Africa at the 2019 Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Britain, July 2, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)
LONDON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- There were few surprises in the first round of men's singles action at Wimbledon as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal eased into round two.
No. 2 seed Federer lost his first set to competition debutant Lloyd Harris of South Africa, but the eight-time Wimbledon champion rallied and ultimately saw off his opponent 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
"With my experience I stayed calm. I know I have other things in the bag that I can come up with, other tricks. I just took a bit of time," the 38-year-old said.
"Federer was always my idol. He was beautiful with finesse and the best role model for players," Harris noted.
Lloyd Harris (L) of South Africa shakes hands with Roger Federer of Switzerland after the men's singles first round match at the 2019 Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Britain, July 2, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)
Nadal swept unseeded Japanese Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. "I am happy for the victory, that's the main thing," the Spaniard said.
"It's the first official match on grass for a year so it's always difficult. At the beginning it was tough, not the ideal start, but then things changed quickly," the 33-year-old added.
In the women's singles, 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova retired from her first round match against Pauline Parmentier of France with a wrist injury.
Sharapova had served for the match while leading 5-3 in the second, but the 32-year-old suffered a setback and called for a medical timeout after losing the set. Things didn't improve for Sharapova, however, and the Russian retired hurt while trailing 5-0 in the third set.
Wang Qiang of China competes during the women's singles first round match with Vera Lapko of Belarus at the 2019 Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Britain, on July 2, 2019. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
China's Wang Qiang and Wang Yafan both won their women's singles first round matches, but Zheng Saisai lost to No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-4, 6-2.
Elsewhere, the U.S.'s Alison Riske made a small piece of Wimbledon history, defeating Donna Vekic of Croatia to become the first player to win a match under the new roof on No. 1 Court.
