Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was forced to exercise patience before finally getting her 2010 bid at SW19 under way with a 'straightforward' win over Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios.
The second seed had faced a long wait for action on Court One thanks mainly to Nikolay Davydenko's earlier five-set epic victory against Kevin Anderson, but when play commenced she appeared in determined mood as she rattled off a 6-3 6-2 success.
Perhaps mindful of the fading light, Williams sped to a 5-0 lead after 15 minutes of the first set before recovering from a minor slump to claim the opener.
Williams also won the first five games of the second set but once again eased off the throttle to allow her opponent to trouble the scorers before reasserting her authority.
"Today was a long day of tennis so I was happy to get on this evening," said Williams.
"Everything was pretty straightforward today. I had a good feel for it and I was ready to go for it."
Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, the surprise winner of the Wimbledon warm-up event in Eastbourne last week, was a 6-4 7-6 (7-2) victor over Agnes Szavay of Hungary and awaits Williams in the next round.
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone could not maintain the form which brought her Roland Garros glory as she made a swift exit in the first round.
The Italian, who turns 30 on Wednesday, was a shock winner of the Paris title earlier this month when she defeated Australia's Samantha Stosur.
That maiden grand slam victory resulted in her being made fifth seed for Wimbledon, but she was on the end of a major upset as Russian Vera Dushevina ousted her 6-7 (0-7) 7-5 6-1.
Schiavone rued her inability to put away the 2002 junior Wimbledon champion when chances came her way, and suggested the transition from the French clay to English grass had been difficult.
"It was a tough match," she said. "It was a different surface, different feeling."
Justine Henin enjoyed a winning return to Wimbledon as her bid to complete a career grand slam got off to a strong start.
Henin, who spent 20 months in retirement before returning to the professional circuit in January, eased aside Latvian youngster Anastasija Sevastova 6-4 6-3 and afterwards admitted she is enjoying the Wimbledon experience having spent some time away.
"I have a very good feeling," said Henin. "From the first minute it was good to be back and I think I am seeing things differently."
"I am probably enjoying it more, and it's been only good things since I arrived."
Fellow Belgian returnee Kim Clijsters also made the perfect start as she ended four years away from SW19 with a 6-0 6-3 win over Maria Elena Camerin of Italy.
Next up for Clijsters is a clash with world No.104 Karolina Sprem of Croatia, who defeated the United States' Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-4.
British hopes in the women's draw were hit as Elena Baltacha squandered a strong start to slump to a 2-6 7-5 6-3 defeat against Petra Martic of Croatia.
The British No.1 was serving for the match in the second set but her game fell apart and she could not recover against an opponent positioned 24 places lower in the world rankings at 76.
Martic's win tees up a meeting with 2007 runner-up Marion Bartoli of France after the 11th seed eased to a 6-4 6-3 win