Defending men’s champion Djokovic is looking to win a fifth successive title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and today the British weather caused him as many problems as his Argentine opponent Pedro Cachin.

The Serbian second seed recovered from a break down to take the first set 6-3, before play was interrupted by a rain shower.

The roof on Centre Court was closed however before the courts were covered water got on to the grass.

This led to a delay of more than an hour as ground staff attempted to dry the grass with leaf blowers and Djokovic used a towel to try and help, before the rain outside stopped, allowing the roof to be reopened and the grass to dry naturally.

Once play resumed Djokovic took the next two sets 6-3 and 7-6 to secure victory.

On the women’s side, top seed Świątek of Poland started her campaign with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 win against China’s Lin Zhu.

In an eagerly-anticipated battle of the wildcards five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams of the United States took on former Wimbledon semi-finalist Svitolina of Ukraine.

Williams suffered a nasty fall in the first set and could be heard screaming in pain as her legs gave way on the grass.

Her movement appeared hampered by the slip, and despite some late resistance from Williams, an emotional Svitolina closed out a 6-4, 6-3 win.

The biggest surprise in the women’s draw came in an all American match-up as seventh seed Coco Gauff, who burst on to the tennis scene when beating Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019, was defeated by Sofia Kenin.

Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion who suffered with injury last year leading to her ranking slipping to outside the top 200 at one point, won a high-quality encounter 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Other winners in the women’s draw included fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who beat fellow American Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, while fifth seed Caroline Garcia of France defeated American Katie Volynets 6-4, 6-3.

Elsewhere on the men’s side fourth seed Casper Ruud battled past France’s Laurent Lokoli, ranked 199 in the world, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Other top ten seeds to win were neutral athlete Andrey Rublev, seeded seventh, who beat Australia’s Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, and eighth seed Jannik Sinner of Italy, who beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in a match that finished under the Centre Court roof due to darkness.

The highest seeded casualty on the men’s side was 11^th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, who lost a match of more than four hours, and three tie-breaks, to Michael Mmoh of the US 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.