Roddick races past Ram

Roddick was in total command from the word go, surging out of the blocks to establish a 3-0 lead on the back of a pair of love service games and Rajeev, ranked 93, was struggling thereafter. Only in the aces department, strangely, did Ram almost match the fifth seed, rattling down a dozen compared to Roddick's 13, the last of which came at match point.

Ram, appearing in his eighth Grand Slam tournament, is still in search of his first win, though his only title came on grass at Newport, Rhode Island, last year. This, however, was a different occasion altogether, against an opponent who has been Wimbledon runner-up three times.

Roddick hammered down some huge serves, the fastest of which at 142mph, drew gasps from the crowd when it was clocked on the illuminated board, and he never even permitted Ram a break point.

The first set was pocketed by Roddick in 27 minutes and the second lasted just one minute longer, with Roddick bursting into a 4-0 lead before Ram was able to stem the slide, if only on a temporary basis.

Ram's best period came in the early stages of the final set as he took the score to 2-2 before Roddick upped the pace, broke to love and did not concede another game. It was a highly polished performance and took his record in grass court events to 71-16.

Speaking after the match, Roddick said: "It was a good start. It was pretty solid all round. I thought I served pretty good percentages. I thought I returned pretty well. And, you know, it was probably a little more straightforward than I thought it might be. So it's a good start."