Nadal survives Wimbledon scare as Covid forces Berrettini out

Rafael Nadal overcame scare to reach the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday after title contender Matteo Berrettini was forced to pull out of the tournament with coronavirus.

Elsewhere on day two of the Championships, women's top seed Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 36 matches and Serena Williams returned to singles tennis after a year away.

An off-key Nadal, already halfway to a calendar Grand Slam after winning the Australian Open and French Open, dug deep to beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

"Three years without being here on this amazing surface, it is amazing to be back and I can't thank (people) enough for the support," said the Spaniard, who has not played at Wimbledon since 2019.

"It is not a surface that we play very often, especially in my case. In the last three years I didn't put any foot on the grass."

The Spaniard appeared to be coasting to victory when he took a two-set lead but his Argentine opponent won the third set and then went a break up early in the fourth.

But the match suddenly switched gears as Nadal broke to level at 4-4, accompanied by roars from the Centre Court crowd.

He held serve and then broke again to seal the victory and will face Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis in the next round.

There was a question mark over the Spaniard's durability for the two weeks at Wimbledon having played the entire French Open with his troublesome left foot anaesthetised.

The 36-year-old second seed has since undergone a course of radiofrequency stimulation, a treatment aimed at reducing nerve pain in his foot and he looked mobile.

"Every day is a test," said the two-time Wimbledon champion. "I am at the beginning of the tournament and everyone knows the difficult circumstances that I had."

The early