Lleyton Hewitt's ignominious record as the only Wimbledon men's singles champion in the Open era to lose in the first round of their title defence was nearly erased as the 2025 championships opened with a scare for Carlos Alcaraz.
The Spanish world No.2 was forced into a marathon five-set battle by Italian veteran Fabio Fognini before winning 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 2-6 6-1.
Hewitt was beaten by the then-unknown qualifier Ivo Karlovic in 2003. The Croatian later rose to No.14 in the world but was at the time ranked 203rd and Hewitt admitted he had never seen him play.
Fognini has a far greater pedigree, but is now 38 years old and has slid down the rankings to No.138. He belied his years and status to keep Alcaraz on a sweltering Centre Court for an energy-sapping four hours and 37 minutes.
"Playing the first match is never easy," said Alcaraz, who had to save two break points before taking control of the final set.
The second seed came into the tournament off the back of winning the Queen's grasscourt warm-up but said: "I've been playing well on grass but Wimbledon is different. I tried to play the best I could but I would say I could be better. It was a great match."
Fognini had lost all six matches he had played in 2025 and intends to retire at the end of the year, but Alcaraz added: "I don't know why it's his last Wimbledon, he can still play three or four more years. Unbelievable."
Alcaraz will next face British qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who plays on the US college circuit as an amateur so cannot bank the Stg 99,000 ($A207,000) he has won so far.
The man Alcaraz beat in the semi-finals last year, despite dropping the first set, will not trouble him this time.
Daniil Medvedev lost to Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2, and took defeat badly. The ninth-seeded Russian smashed up his racquets after the loss.
Fifth seed Taylor Fritz looked on the verge of becoming the high-profile casualty later when he fell two sets down to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who hit a Wimbledon record serve of 246km/h.
But the American came back to level the match at 6-7 (8-6) 6-7 (10-8) 6-4 7-6 (8-6) and was then left frustrated when the officials opted not to finish the match because, at 10.15pm, it was deemed too close to the 11pm curfew imposed by the local council.
Another top-10 seed departing is Holger Rune (8), who blew a two-set lead as he fell in five sets to Nicolas Jarry. The giant Chilean fired down 31 aces.
Former world No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas is also out after retiring against Valentin Royer. The 24th-seeded Greek had treatment on his back in the second set and called it a day while trailing 6-3 6-2.
There were wins for seeds Frances Tiafoe (12), Andrey Rublev (14), Karen Khachanov (17) and Jiri Lehecka (23) but Francisco Cerundolo (16) was knocked out by Portugal's Nuno Borges.