Tennis: Djokovic; Serena Williams Progress To Wimbledon Open Next Round

World number one and Defending champion, Novak Djokovic started his Wimbledon title defence campaign with a bang, beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court.

The Serbian, who was denied his first French Open title by Stanislav Wawrinka will now face Lleyton Hewitt or Jarkko Nieminen in the second round of the championship which began on Monday.

The 28 year old made 20 unforced errors but broke serve to win each of the three sets and he has described his opponent as a tricky player on grass.

"He can be very tricky on all the surfaces, especially grass, and had nothing to lose but I managed to stay composed," the world number one said.

"I made the crucial breaks at 5-4 in all three sets, so hopefully it can stay that way for me."

As the world number 33, Kohlschreiber was the toughest possible opening opponent for Djokovic in terms of rankings.

The German recovered breaks of serve in the first and third sets but was unable to withstand the pressure when serving to stay in each set.

Djokovic moves into round two as he looks to win a third title, after victories in 2011 and 2014.

"It's great to be back, this is the cradle of our sport. It doesn't get any bigger than Wimbledon so it's an honour to open this year's play on Centre Court as defending champion," Djokovic added.

"This is a tradition and history that is nurtured here, so it really is a special feeling."

Meanwhile, Serena Williams also beat debutant Margarita Gasparyan, 6-4, 6-1 to progress to the second round of Wimbledon with ease.

The world number one, who is also the reigning Australian and French Open champion, said Gasparyan should be proud of herself, despite losing to her.

"She did good, she should be really proud," said Williams of Gasparyan, 20.

The 33-year old American has been tipped as the tournament's favourite for the women's title, and if she wins for the sixth time, the top seed will move closer to completing a calendar Grand Slam and emulate Steffi Graf, who won all four in 1988.

The win, her 73rd singles victory at Wimbledon which equals her sister Venus' tally, was achieved with a vicious overhead smash on her second match point.

The American will next play either Timea Babos of Hungary or Czech Petra Cetkovska in the next round. BBC