Wimbledon -- the world's oldest tennis tournament -- got underway at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London on Monday.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz survived a massive scare to beat Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 and reach the second round.
Alcaraz avoided becoming only the third defending champion to lose in the Wimbledon opening round after Manuel Santana in 1967 and Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.
Alcaraz is bidding to become only the fifth man since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles.
This was 38-year-old Fognini's final Wimbledon appearance.
'I don't know why it's his last Wimbledon because the level he has shown, you know, he can still play three or four more years. It's unbelievable,' Alcaraz said of his opponent.
Jasmine Paolini of Italy, last year's runner-up, came back to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in a match lasting almost two hours to reach the second round.
Aryna Sabalenka overcame Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine on a sweltering Court One to get her quest for a first Wimbledon title up and running with a 6-1, 7-5 win as the thermometer soared above 30 degrees Celsius.
Katie Boulter delighted the evening crowd on Centre Court as she put the icing on the cake by taking out ninth seed Spaniard Paula Badosa 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
It was a dream opening day for local fans as seven British players made it to the second round -- the most singles wins for the home nation in a single day at Wimbledon in the professional era.
British women's number one Emma Raducanu overcame 17-year-old Welsh wildcard Mimi Xu, making her Grand Slam debut, 6-3, 6-3, in all-British clash.
Boxes and punnets of strawberries on day one of Wimbledon.
David Beckham in the Royal Box during the first round match between Alcaraz and Fognini.
Twice Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur's tournament lasted only one hour and 25 minutes as the Tunisian retired in her first round match against Viktoriya Tomova.
The 30-year-old former world number two had looked uncomfortable in fiercely hot conditions on Court 14 and needed a long medical timeout in the first set.
Jabeur, who has slipped outside the world's top 50, suffers from asthma and experienced breathing difficulties at this year's Australian Open.
Temperatures climbed to 32.3 degrees Celsius and transformed the All England Club into a sizzling spectacle of sun hats, shade-seekers and fans reaching for water bottles.
Play was stopped for over 15 minutes in the fifth set during Alcaraz's first round match against Fognini after a woman in the stands needed medical attention and left on a wheelchair.
The All England Club said the air temperature, confirmed by the French meteorological administration Meteo France, eclipsed the previous opening-day high of 29.3 degrees set at the start of the 2001 edition.
US-based collegiate player Oliver Tarvet, who came through qualifying, beat Switzerland's Leandro Riedi 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 for his first win in a Grand Slam tournament.
The 21 year old's reward is a Centre Court meeting with Alcaraz but, win or lose, he will go home with only $10,000 plus expenses due to the rules surrounding student athletes in the United States, where he goes to college.
All other second-round losers will take home 99,000 pounds ($135,000) in prize money.
23 local players started in the men's and women's singles this week, the most at Wimbledon since 1984.
Britain's Sonay Kartal got the day off to a flier by beating former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.
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