London - South Africa's Kevin Anderson, seeded 14th, beat Lucas Pouille of France 6-2, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in their first round encounter at Wimbledon on Monday.
Anderson was cruising to an easy victory when Pouille started gaining confidence to take the third set, but he started finding his range with his deadly serves and won the fourth set in double quick time.
French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded fourth at Wimbledon, had no problem, dispatching Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
Other first round results:
Bernard Tomic (AUS x27) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Leonardo Mayer (ARG x24) bt Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4
Marcel Granollers (ESP) bt Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Marin Cilic (CRO x9) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4)
Ricardas Berankis (LTU) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT) 6-2, 5-2 - retired
Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt Blaz Rola (SLO) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
John Isner (USA x17) bt Go Soeda (JPN) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4
Santiago Giraldo (COL) bt Joao Souza (BRA) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
Victor Estrella (DOM) bt Benjamin Becker (GER) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Martin Klizan (SVK) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 13-11
Dominic Thiem (AUT x32) bt Dudi Sela (ISR) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
John Millman (AUS) bt Tommy Robredo (ESP x19) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Liam Broady (GBR) bt Marinko Matosevic (AUS) 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
David Goffin (BEL x16) bt Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-1
Steve Johnson (USA) bt Lukas Lacko (SVK) 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Kenny De Schepper (FRA) bt John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-4
Richard Gasquet (FRA x21) bt Luke Saville (AUS) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Juan Monaco (ARG) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Tommy Haas (GER) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Milos Raonic (CAN x7) bt Daniel Gimeno (ESP) 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4)
Women:
Timea Babos (HUN) bt Petra Cetkovska (CZE) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 7-5, 6-0
Sara Errani (ITA x19) bt Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA) 6-2, 6-4
Venus Williams (USA x16) bt Madison Brengle (USA) 6-0, 6-0
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) bt Carla Surez (ESP x9) 6-2, 6-0
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) bt Alexandra Dulgheru (ROM) 6-2, 6-1
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) bt Annika Beck (GER) 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
Victoria Azarenka (BLR x23) bt Anett Kontaveit (EST) 6-2, 6-1
Belinda Bencic (SUI x30) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) bt Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 6-3, 6-2
Ana Ivanovic (SRB x7) bt Yifan Xu (CHN) 6-1, 6-1
Richel Hogenkamp (NED) bt Qiang Wang (CHN) 6-4, 6-4
Zarina Diyas (KAZ) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA x24) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Lin Zhu (CHN) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Andrea Petkovic (GER x14) bt Shelby Rogers (USA) 6-0, 6-0
Karolna Plskov (CZE x11) bt Irina Falconi (USA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) bt Anna Karolna Schmiedlov (SVK) 6-4, 6-2
Urszula Radwanska (POL) bt Edina Gallovits (USA) 6-2, 6-1
Samantha Stosur (AUS x22) bt Danka Kovinic (MNE) 6-4, 6-4
Lauren Davis (USA) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)
Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST) 6-1, 6-4.