Bethanie Mattek-Sands admits to feeling as if she was back home in stifling Florida when she brought her knowledge of how to play in 35C heat to net-rush her way past Ana Ivanovic.

Having missed six months on tour a year ago with a hip injury, the vivacious American, sporting her typical knee-length compression socks, had to work her way through qualifying last week just to make the main draw.

Against the No.7 seed from Serbia, she never eased off the pedal, using fine-tuned serve-and-volley tactics, honed on the doubles court, to post a 6-3, 6-4 win.

With two Grand Slam doubles titles already to her name in 2015 with close friend Lucie Safarova, it was a far cry from her predicament during last year’s Championships.

“The hip surgery and being out that long really gave me a perspective on tennis. Last year I was watching these matches at home on TV,” Mattek-Sands said. “Just beating someone like Ana, who had a great French Open, reaching semi-finals, gives me confidence.”

Serving for the match, the American’s game plan to take time away from Ivanovic never erred. She punched a forehand volley winner to bring up two match points, and while the Serbian countered with a big forehand return winner and a lob to draw an error, Mattek-Sands pulled through after one hour and 10 minutes on her fourth opportunity. Swiss No.30 seed Belinda Bencic is next.

The news was equally impressive for her doubles partner, the No.6 seed Safarova. The Czech player, who reached her first Grand Slam final in Paris last month, put a first-round scare behind her to ease past Taipai’s Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2, 6-3.

Safarova’s Fed Cup team-mate, Karolina Pliskova, was not so fortunate. The No.11 seed earlier went down to big-hitting American Coco Vandeweghe, whose 15 aces and 32 winners powered her to a 7-6(5), 6-4 meeting with Australian Sam Stosur.

Stosur, the No.22 seed,  matched her best result at typically her worst major, with a 6-3, 6-4 result against Poland’s Urszula Radwanska.

Welcoming the drier conditions hardening up the grass courts, Stosur brought up match point with a low, biting sliced backhand which Radwanska could barely get a racket to. An 18th unforced error from the Pole would be enough to seal the result after one hour and 20 minutes and a shot at revenge against the player who ended her Australian Open campaign in January.

Teenager Madison Keys came out the victor in a resumed first-round match with Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele, the No.21 seed prevailing 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4.

She admitted to feeling the nerves returning to Wimbledon with added expectations having reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final in Australia this year.

“I don't know if I was more nervous than previous years, but going into any Grand Slam you have those nerves and you can definitely tell everyone is feeling the tension,” Keys said.

In a battle of former Wimbledon semi-finalists, Victoria Azarenka was too strong for Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens, coming through 6-4, 7-5. The Belarusian former world No.1 continued her steady comeback from a spate of injuries to book a third-round clash with France’s Kristina Mladenovic, while German No.14 seed Andrea Petkovic was untested against Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino, winning 6-3, 6-1 on Court 12.