Milos Raonic wins Wimbledon opener

Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic is through to the second round of Wimbledon after defeating Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) on Monday.

The hard server from Thornhill, Ont., fired 25 aces in the win, but had 34 unforced errors and converted three of nine break point opportunities.

Raonic, the No. 7 seed at the All England Club, is coming off a quarter-final appearance of the Aegon Championships in London last week. That was his first tournament since returning from a foot injury that caused him to miss the French Open.

Raonic made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon last year before losing to Switzerland's Roger Federer in straight sets.

Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., and Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil will play their first-round matches Tuesday.

Pospisil and his American doubles teammate Jack Sock won their opening-round match Monday.

Serena, Djokovic advance

Down 3-1 to a qualifier, top-ranked Serena Williams was not about to drop the opening set as she did four times during her run to the French Open title.

"She came out so fast, I was like, 'Oh my God, if I don't start I'm going to be down a set.' And I was tired of being down a set," Williams said.

So the five-time champion got to work, winning 11 of 13 games to beat 113th-ranked Margarita Gasparyan of Russia 6-4, 6-1 to extend her Grand Slam winning streak to 22 matches as she pursues a fourth straight major title.

Things were more straightforward for defending men's champion Novak Djokovic, who opened play on Centre Court and led all the way for a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

"It's great to be back," said Djokovic, who beat Roger Federer in last year's final. "This is the cradle of our sport, Centre Court. It doesn't get any better than Wimbledon.

"I am privileged and honoured to open this year's Wimbledon Centre Court as defending champion. It really is a special feeling."

Williams, who played the opening match on Court 1, is seeking to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam, a sweep of all four major titles in the same season.

Not only did Williams get off to another slow start Monday, she also got a warning for her language. In the sixth game, she received a code violation for an audible obscenity after sliding on the grass and falling during a point.

But Williams was able to impose herself on an opponent making her Wimbledon debut.

"I knew she would be a good player," Williams said. "I can't say I thought she'd be that good, to be honest."

Williams finished with as many errors — 19 — as winners, but she broke four times and lost serve only once.

"It feels good so far," she said. "Just to be back at Wimbledon, I have so many good memories here."

Kohlschreiber, the highest-ranked men's player outside the seedings at No. 33, had figured to pose a stiff test for Djokovic, who came to Wimbledon after a painful loss to Stan Warwinka in the French Open final and without having played a warm-up tournament on grass.

But the Serb was rarely troubled, seizing command with his all-court game, serving 12 aces and breaking five times.

"I had a very tough opponent who can be very tricky on all surfaces. Especially on the grass, he had nothing to do lose," Djokovic said. "I just managed to stay composed."

Heat wave coming

The 129th edition of Wimbledon opened in mostly sunny conditions with temperatures in the 20s Celsius (70s Fahrenheit). Forecasters are predicting a "heat wave" for London this week, with temperatures reaching 32 C (90 F) on Wednesday.

Other men's winners Monday included No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 9 Marin Cilic, No. 16 David Goffin, No. 17 John Isner and No. 26 Nick Kyrgios.

Lleyton Hewitt played his last match at Wimbleon. The 2002 champion lost his match to Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9.

Women advancing to the second round included No. 4 Maria Sharapova, No. 6 Lucie Safarova, No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, No. 11 Karolina Plishkova and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azerenka.

The highest-seeded player eliminated was No. 9 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, who fell 6-2, 6-0 to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan upset No. 24 Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.