Wimbledon, England:
The Wimbledon tennis championships got off to a thrilling start on Monday with defending champion Roger Federer surviving a huge shock to go through, while comeback girl Kim Clijsters made a winning return to the All England Club.
The men's defending champion is always the first out on the pristine grass of Centre Court, but it was far from a gala performance from Swiss top seed Federer, who recovered from two sets down to beat Colombia's Alejandro Falla.
The world number 60 nearly made Federer only the third men's title holder to lose in the first round, taking the first two sets and serving for the match at 5-4 up in the fourth.
But the top seed recovered his form to win 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0 and avoid what would have been one of the worst defeats of his career.
"I've lost many matches this season I should have won and today I won a match I should have lost. He played incredible," Federer said.
Women's defending champion Serena Williams will be hoping for a much easier time when the American gets her campaign under way Tuesday against Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Belgian eighth seed Clijsters, who made her first appearance at Wimbledon since reaching the 2006 semi-finals following a spell in retirement, marked her return with a straight sets victory over Italy's Maria Elena Camerin.
"I was actually pretty nervous leaving the locker room and going out on court again," the US Open champion said.
"I was nervous but also excited to be out here, to be on the new Court 2, I had to find my way to get there. Luckily the security guard knew where we were going, because I actually had no idea.
"Obviously I can play better. But I think overall I played a good match.
"I know that if I play my best tennis I can definitely compete with the top players."
Women's 11th seed Marion Bartoli, 12th seed Nadia Petrova and 21st seed Vera Zvonareva also went through to the second round in straight sets, while 27th seed Maria Kirilenko made it in three sets.
Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, who was playing her 56th Grand Slam, the most of any player in the women's draw, lost 6-0, 6-2 to Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan, who got the first win of the championships.
British women's number one Elena Baltacha lost in three sets to Croatia's Petra Martic in front of her home crowd.
In the men's draw, 17th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was beaten by Poland's Michal Przysiezny.
French 21st seed Gael Monfils, who won the boys' title here in 2004, went through, as did Spain's Feliciano Lopez, the 22nd seed, and US Queen's finalist Mardy Fish.
Dustin Brown became the first player to represent Jamaica at Wimbledon since 1970, but the dreadlocked 25-year-old, who used to drive a camper van around Europe, lost his Grand Slam debut match to Austrian 16th seed Jurgen Melzer.
The winners of this year's Wimbledon singles' titles will net one million pounds (1.48 million dollars, 1.2 million euros) in prize money after a credit-crunch defying increase of 150,000 pounds.
The total prize money for the event stands at 13.725 million pounds.
Later on Centre Court, women's fourth seed Jelena Jankovic was to face teenage British wild card Laura Robson, who won the 2008 girls' singles.
Jankovic's fellow Serb Novak Djokovic, the men's third seed, was then to face Belgium's Olivier Rochus.
Last year's beaten finalists started their campaign on Number One Court.
US number one Andy Roddick, who lost one of the all-time greatest finals in a knife-edge 16-14 fifth set duel with Federer, was up against compatriot Rajeev Ram.
Venus Williams, the five-time Wimbledon champion who lost the women's final to her sister Serena last year, begins against Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios.
Queen Elizabeth II is due to make her first visit to the championships since 1977 when she takes her place in the royal box on Centre Court on Thursday.
The men's defending champion is always the first out on the pristine grass of Centre Court, but it was far from a gala performance from Swiss top seed Federer, who recovered from two sets down to beat Colombia's Alejandro Falla.
The world number 60 nearly made Federer only the third men's title holder to lose in the first round, taking the first two sets and serving for the match at 5-4 up in the fourth.
But the top seed recovered his form to win 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0 and avoid what would have been one of the worst defeats of his career.
"I've lost many matches this season I should have won and today I won a match I should have lost. He played incredible," Federer said.
Women's defending champion Serena Williams will be hoping for a much easier time when the American gets her campaign under way Tuesday against Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Belgian eighth seed Clijsters, who made her first appearance at Wimbledon since reaching the 2006 semi-finals following a spell in retirement, marked her return with a straight sets victory over Italy's Maria Elena Camerin.
"I was actually pretty nervous leaving the locker room and going out on court again," the US Open champion said.
"I was nervous but also excited to be out here, to be on the new Court 2, I had to find my way to get there. Luckily the security guard knew where we were going, because I actually had no idea.
"Obviously I can play better. But I think overall I played a good match.
"I know that if I play my best tennis I can definitely compete with the top players."
Women's 11th seed Marion Bartoli, 12th seed Nadia Petrova and 21st seed Vera Zvonareva also went through to the second round in straight sets, while 27th seed Maria Kirilenko made it in three sets.
Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, who was playing her 56th Grand Slam, the most of any player in the women's draw, lost 6-0, 6-2 to Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan, who got the first win of the championships.
British women's number one Elena Baltacha lost in three sets to Croatia's Petra Martic in front of her home crowd.
In the men's draw, 17th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was beaten by Poland's Michal Przysiezny.
French 21st seed Gael Monfils, who won the boys' title here in 2004, went through, as did Spain's Feliciano Lopez, the 22nd seed, and US Queen's finalist Mardy Fish.
Dustin Brown became the first player to represent Jamaica at Wimbledon since 1970, but the dreadlocked 25-year-old, who used to drive a camper van around Europe, lost his Grand Slam debut match to Austrian 16th seed Jurgen Melzer.
The winners of this year's Wimbledon singles' titles will net one million pounds (1.48 million dollars, 1.2 million euros) in prize money after a credit-crunch defying increase of 150,000 pounds.
The total prize money for the event stands at 13.725 million pounds.
Later on Centre Court, women's fourth seed Jelena Jankovic was to face teenage British wild card Laura Robson, who won the 2008 girls' singles.
Jankovic's fellow Serb Novak Djokovic, the men's third seed, was then to face Belgium's Olivier Rochus.
Last year's beaten finalists started their campaign on Number One Court.
US number one Andy Roddick, who lost one of the all-time greatest finals in a knife-edge 16-14 fifth set duel with Federer, was up against compatriot Rajeev Ram.
Venus Williams, the five-time Wimbledon champion who lost the women's final to her sister Serena last year, begins against Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios.
Queen Elizabeth II is due to make her first visit to the championships since 1977 when she takes her place in the royal box on Centre Court on Thursday.
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