By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Wimbledon first sets have been stumbling blocks for Rafael Nadal in recent years. Facing a familiar fellow left-hander today, Nadal used the first set as a launching pad for a winning Wimbledon return.

Surging out to a 5-2 lead at the outset, Nadal cruised into the Wimbledon second round with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Thomaz Bellucci on a bright, hot Tuesday afternoon on Court No. 1.

Video: Bellucci Bungles Smash

It wasn't a flaweless performance. Nadal will want to sharpen his serve. He served 59 percent today, won 65 percent of both first and second-serve points and double faulted five times.

Still, the two-time champion moved well, controlled most of the baseline rallies, attacked shrewdly, winning 17 of 19 trips to net, and fired his forehand with more ambition as he gained his range and rhythm.

"I feel good. I won a tournament on grass after five years," said Nadal, who opened his grass-court season winning Stuttgart before bowing in his Queen's Club opener. "I'm happy to be here and I'm healthy, that's the most important thing. Losing or winning doesn't matter but it's good to be healthy on the second most important surface of my career."

Bellucci's best results have come on clay where he has time to hang back and blast his forehand. The Brazilian had never taken a set from Nadal in four prior meetings and watching this rematch of their 2012 Wimbledon opener, you can understand the reasons for his career-long futility against the King of Clay. Nadal does everything better and is more comfortable playing all-court tennis.

Softening up his opponents with successive slice backhands, Nadal stepped in and swatted a flat two-hander down the line, breaking for 3-2. Nadal backed up the break at 15 for 4-2.

Dialing in his groundstrokes, Nadal earned triple break point in the seventh game. When Bellucci sailed a wild forehand wide, Nadal had his second straight break building a 5-2 lead.

Mis-steps in this match came primarily on the 10th seed's serve. Scattering a double fault off the top of the tape, Nadal handed one break back. Bellucci bungled one of the most routine shots you'll ever see, slapping a point-blank smash into the middle of the net eliciting a gasp from the crowd. The lanky Brazilian shrugged off that embarassing lapse, holding serve with a gorgeous forehand drop volley for 4-5.

Slashing an inside-out forehand winner, Nadal sealed the 43-minute opener. Winning the first set was a major step for Nadal, who had lost the opening set in his last five SW19 matches, a streak dating to 2012.

Breaking at 15 to start the second set, Nadal exploited Bellucci's front-court futility. The Brazilian's aversion to net was apparent when he butchered a point-blank volley, pushing it long with Nadal off the court. It could have given him break point, instead Nadal navigated the game for a 2-0 lead, before breaking again for 4-1. Down double break point in the next game, Nadal lashed a forehand winner down the line erasing the second break point and eventually working through a challenging hold for 5-1.

Bellucci broke in building a 2-0 third-set lead. Nadal responded breaking back. Unleashing a flurry of crosscourt forehands, he broke again for 3-2 bouncing off the lawn like a man leaping off a trampoline. He won six of the final eight games to wrap up a two hour, 12-minute win.
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Next up for Nadal is a second-round meeting with German-Jamaican qualifier Dustin Brown, who defeated Yen-Hsun Lu 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the second round for the second time. In their long prior meeting, Brown beat Nadal, 6-4, 6-1, on the grass of Halle last summer.