The 31-year old Andreas Seppi, a former top-20 now ranked 27th in the world, entered Wimbledon after a grass swing of mixed results, alternating second round losses at Stuttgart and Nottingham with a runner-up campaign in Halle, and he was first drawn to play Brydan Klein, a regular at the Challenger Tour whose highlight on grass this year is a win over Marcos Baghdatis at a Manchester event. And the more savvy Italian did not face any trouble en route to a 6/3, 6/2, 6/2 win.
Seppi, who won his maiden ATP title on the English grass of Eastbourne in 2011, started the match with a love hold, and despite squandering a pair of break points on Klein’s first service game, he remained strong until breaking his opponent in the eighth game at love. Serving for the set, the Italian fell behind in the count, 0-30, but rebounded to clinch the first frame, 6/3.
In the second set, Seppi was threatened even less, as he broke Klein right away and consolidated the lead at 15. They exchanged holds until the seventh game, when after a couple of deuces the Italian managed to win the game on Brydan’s serve once more, promptly serving out the set at 15 after, firing two forehand winners in the process, 6/2.
The final set lasted only 25 minutes, the same duration of the first frame. Despite the lack of break points in the first four games, from 2/2 on was all Andreas Seppi. He broke Klein in the fifth and seventh games and when he stepped up to close out the match, he didn’t even blink, holding at 15 as he put the finishing touches in his opening round.
Seppi now advances to face Croatia’s young gun Borna Coric who defeated Ukrainian serve and volleyer Sergiy Stakhovsky. Seppi's best result at the All England Club came in 2013, when he made it all the way to the second week, before losing to Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round.