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London - Defending champion Andy Murray breezed through his Wimbledon opener on Monday with a confident 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 win over baby-faced Belgian David Goffin.
"I thought it was a very high standard of match, we played some great rallies, and I was glad to finish it in three sets because he was playing very well," said Murray.
"Sometimes you can win in three and not play well but in terms of the way I struck the ball it was a good start."
The British star was never broken as he brushed past the 23-year-old Goffin, the world number 104, with new coach Amelie Mauresmo and former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal looking on from the Centre Court stands.
Murray, who has made at least the semi-finals on his last five appearances at the All England Club, goes on to face Slovenia's Blaz Rola.
The Scot was joined in the second round by Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, who came from a set down to beat Romania's Victor Hanescu, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
Grigor Dimitrov, the Bulgarian 11th seed who won the Queen's title last week, beat Ryan Harrison of the United States, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-2.
Latvian 12th seed Ernests Gulbis, who made the French Open semi-finals, also went into the second round by defeating Estonia's Jurgen Zopp 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 7-6 (12/10).
Spanish 18th seed Fernando Verdasco, who took Murray to five sets in the quarter-finals in 2013, was knocked out by Australia's Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Sergiy Stakhovsky, the Ukrainian who sent seven-time champion Roger Federer crashing to a shock second round loss last year, beat Argentina's Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Later Monday, top-seeded Novak Djokovic, the 2011 champion and runner-up to Murray in 2013, starts against 26-year-old Kazakh, Andrey Golubev who is ranked 55 and has lost all three of his main draw appearances at Wimbledon.
Chinese women's second seed Li Na, a three-time quarter-finalist, got back on track after her French Open misery thanks to a 7-5, 6-2 win over Polish qualifier Paula Kania.
Li suffered her worst Grand Slam performance since 2011 when she slumped to an opening round exit against Kristina Mladenovic in Paris.
But the 32-year-old from Wuhan was too strong for world number 183 Kania, hitting 24 winners to set up a second round meeting with Austria's Yvonne Meusburger.
"In the beginning I was a bit shaky because I hadn't played her before and she was using my power against me, so I was really happy to win in the end," said Li.
- Plagued by injury -
Former women's world number one Victoria Azarenka won her first match since January as the eighth seed triumphed 6-3, 7-5 against Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who was a semi-finalist back in 1999.
The former Australian Open champion has been plagued by a left foot injury which kept her off tour from Indian Wells in March to Eastbourne last week where she lost her opener to Camila Giorgi.
Azarenka now goes on to face Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski.
"The toughest part of being off court was not knowing when I would be back on court, it was day to day, sometimes I made progress, sometimes there were setbacks," said Azarenka.
US 18th seed Sloane Stephens, a quarter-finalist in 2013, was defeated by Russian former top 10 player Maria Kirilenko, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).
Kirilenko, who had won just one match all year after a lengthy battle with a knee injury, claimed victory on a sixth match point.
Australian 17th seed Samantha Stosur fired 13 aces but still suffered another Wimbledon nightmare when she slumped to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer.
The former US Open champion has now failed to get beyond the third round in 12 Wimbledon appearances.
Japanese 43-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm, who made her debut 25 years ago, went down 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Russian 22nd seed, Ekaterina Makarova.
Five-time champion Venus Williams, the 30th seed, who missed last year's Championships through injury, beat Spain's world number 53 Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Later, Czech sixth seed Petra Kvitova, the 2011 champion, faces compatriot Andrea Hlavackova and ex-world number one Caroline Wozniacki meets Israel's Shahar Peer.
Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito, who knocked out Maria Sharapova last year, plays another Grand Slam title winning Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Wimbledon results on Monday, the first day of the 2014 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeded player):
Men
First round
Wimbledon results on Monday, the first day of the 2014 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeded player):
Men
First round
Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Pablo Cuevas (URU) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
Gilles Simon (FRA) bt Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x17) bt James Ward (GBR) 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Jimmy Wang (TPE) bt Alejandro Gonzlez (COL) 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
Ernests Gulbis (LAT x12) bt Jurgen Zopp (EST) 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 7-6 (12/10)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) bt Carlos Berlocq (ARG) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
Jrmy Chardy (FRA) bt Daniel Cox (GBR) 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (6/8), 6-3
Marinko Matosevic (AUS) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP x18) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
Bernard Tomic (AUS) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) bt Victor Hanescu (ROM) 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt David Goffin (BEL) 6-1, 6-4, 7-5
Blaz Rola (SLO) bt Pablo Andjar (ESP) 6-3, 6-1, 6-4
Kevin Anderson (RSA x20) bt Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 6-3, 7-5, 6-2
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Filippo Volandri (ITA) 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, 6-4
Tim Puetz (GER) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x11) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-2
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA x25) 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) bt Dustin Brown (GER) 6-4, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4)
Women
First round
Victoria Azarenka (BLR x8) bt Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) 6-3, 7-5
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 7-6 (7/2), 6-0
Lucie Safarova (CZE x23) bt Julia Goerges (GER) 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3)
Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Paula Ormaechea (ARG) 6-4, 6-4
Misaki Doi (JPN) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-4, 6-1
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x22) bt Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
Jarmila Gadjdosova (AUS) bt Stefanie Vegele (SUI) 6-3, 7-6 (8/6)
Mona Barthel (GER) bt Romina Oprandi (SUI) 7-5, 6-0
Kurumi Nara (JPN) bt Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) 6-4, 6-4
Venus Williams (USA x30) bt Mara Teresa Torr-Flor (ESP) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) bt Sloane Stephens (USA x18) 6-2, 7-6 (8/6)
Peng Shuai (CHN) bt Johanna Konta (GBR) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Lauren Davis (USA) bt Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 6-1, 6-2
Ana Konjuh (CRO) bt Marina Erakovic (NZL) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS x17) 6-3, 6-4
Elena Vesnina (RUS x32) bt Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT) 6-0, 6-4
Barbora Zhlavov Strcov (CZE) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 6-2, 6-2
Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) bt Vania King (USA) 7-5, 6-3
Li Na (CHN x2) bt Paula Kania (POL) 7-5, 6-2
