Carlos Alcaraz beats Mark Lajal to get Wimbledon title defence off to winning start | Tennis | Sport

Carlos Alcaraz beat a man with blonde dreadlocks to get his title defence up and running – but it was no holiday. The defending champion had to dig deep against Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal who gave him a hair-raising run for his money on Centre Court.

Lajal wowed the crowd with his unusual appearance but as he was ranked 269 in the world and playing his first tour match on grass, the chances of a tight encounter looked remote.

But the boy from the Baltics began to meet fire with fire as the opening singles encounter on the showpiece court proved to be a close affair.

However, Alcaraz – who is bidding to be only the ninth man in the Open era to defend his crown, kept his nerve to close out a 7-6 (3) 7-5 6-2 victory.

It will not go down as a vintage performance from the third seed – but as he lost to Britain’s Jack Draper at Queen’s two weeks ago, he will be pleased to have got his tournament off to a winning start.

For his part Lajal, whose own agility was on the same level as his opponent, left his own mark – not just with his flamboyant appearance but also the quality of his game.

The Estonian, who was just one week younger than the reigning champ, entered the arena to an audible stir from the packed stands.

He’s sported the dreadlocks since the age of six when he begged his sister to give him a makeover – and he liked the results so much, that he’s stayed with them ever since.

The natty hair-do hinted at at a showman – and it became repeatedly clear that he was comfortable both in that role and his new surroundings.

In the final reckoning, he will lament not being able to take advantage of breaking Alcaraz’s serve twice in the opening two sets.

He drew first blood on each occasion – but was immediately pegged back by the Spaniard.

And that handed back the momentum to a player who has already proved he can handle the pressure of the big occasion.

Alcaraz won the first set on a tie-break and then closed out the second after breaking Lajal’s serve in the 11th game.

When he did the same in the opening game of the third, cracks began to appear as the Estonian visibly tired and Alcaraz took full advantage to progress to the second round.