Carlos Alcaraz continued where he left off on the British grass by starting his Queen's title defence with a straight-set victory over Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo.
The 21-year-old Spaniard won 6-1 7-5 in his first match on grass since lifting the Wimbledon title last year.
Alcaraz won the third major of his career on the French Open clay earlier this month, before switching back to the surface where he has played the least.
It looked a comfortable transition initially, but he ran into difficulty in his first-round match against 26th-ranked Cerundolo.
But the world number two recovered to earn his 12th straight win on a grass court.
"It doesn't matter what tournaments I'm playing, or everything I have achieved, I am still learning," said Alcaraz.
"Every time I step on a grass court I need to learn how to move better and play better."
Alcaraz dropped just 14 points in a one-sided first set before fighting back from a break down at 5-2 in the second.
Cerundolo could not serve out at 5-3 and had three set points at 5-4.
But he struck two backhands into the net, either side of Alcaraz saving the second with an ace, as the Spaniard escaped to hold for 5-5.
That proved costly as Alcaraz broke for 6-5 and served out to love.
"The first match in every tournament is never easy but even more difficult here on grass," said Alcaraz.
"Starting the grass season you want a good result and you have to deal with the expectations you put on yourself.
"It was a good test against Francisco. I'm really happy with what I've done and hopefully can keep going."
Alcaraz will play new British number one Jack Draper in the second round after the 22-year-old beat Argentina's Mariano Navone.
Sinner battles back to win at Halle
New world number one Jannik Sinner had to come from behind to win his opening match at the Halle Open in Germany.
The Italian, who replaced Novak Djokovic as the top-ranked men's player following his run to the French Open semi-finals, recovered to beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 6-2.
"It was for sure mentally tough," Australian Open champion Sinner, who faces Hungarian Fabian Marozsan next, said.
"I was 5-1 up in the tie-break in the first set. But this can happen, especially on this surface, it can go very, very fast.
"I was struggling in the second set, 0-40 down on my serve. If he makes that point, it is even more difficult."
There were also victories for German second seed Alexander Zverev and Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Zverev, beaten by Alcaraz in the French Open final earlier this month, also had to come back from a set down to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 against compatriot Oscar Otte.
Tsitsipas came through two tie-breaks against German Henri Squire to clinch a 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-2) victory.
However, Russian fourth seed Andrey Rublev is out following a straight-set loss to American Marcos Giron.
Rublev, runner up in 2021 and last year, was beaten 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
Latest Stories
-
Starmer set to be PM as Tories face worst defeat – exit poll
9 mins -
Ghana’s Foreign Minister champions AfCFTA at Swakopmund Expo
13 mins -
High-profile CIR Summit to address flooding and housing challenges
27 mins -
‘An honour’ to face Ronaldo, says Mbappe
1 hour -
MTN donates to support Edina Bakatue festival in Elmina
1 hour -
Prof Gyapong awarded a Fellowship of the UK Faculty of Public Health
1 hour -
Telecel Ghana Foundation commits to healthier pregnancies in Ashanti Region
1 hour -
Petition to remove Special Prosecutor was baseless and non-factual – Samson Lardy
1 hour -
CAF fines Eto’o $200k for breach of ethics
1 hour -
Raya makes £27m Arsenal move after season on loan
1 hour -
Parliament can’t probe allegations of murder against IGP – Kofi Bentil tells Atta Akyea
2 hours -
Murray celebrated as Wimbledon farewell begins with defeat
2 hours -
Man Utd trigger one-year extension to Ten Hag deal
2 hours -
Jeff Bezos to sell another $5bn of Amazon shares
2 hours -
Kris Jenner shares plans for removal of her ovaries
2 hours