Cameron Norrie eased past Pablo Andujar to book his place in the second round at Wimbledon.
The biggest danger to British number one proved to be the rain, as play was twice halted including moments after Norrie was unable to take the third match point that came his way deep in the third set.
He returned to swiftly get the job done though with a 6-0 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory, five hours after he first took to court.
The ninth seed will face another Spaniard, Jaume Munar, in his next match.
Norrie, who has never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam, made a confident start on Court 2 and secured an early break when Andujar sent a forehand long.
A hold to love was followed by another break, as the Brit framed a volley at the net and watched it spin perfectly over the net, his hands up in apology doing little to improve the mood of the Spaniard who was 4-0 down in no time at all.
Andujar served to avoid a bagel but was unable to do so as Norrie wrapped up the set in 23 minutes, producing nine winners and just one unforced error in a clinical display.
A first blip of the morning came as Norrie was broken in the opening game of the second set, and it was the afternoon when he got a chance to put that right as the rain brought a halt to proceedings.
In contrast to what was on display before the weather intervened it proved to be a very competitive set of tennis, perhaps helped by Andujar being wound up at having to replay a couple of points after Hawk-Eye revealed two big forehands of his to have landed on the line by a matter of millimetres.
Norrie got the break to get things back on serve and it went to a tie-break, where Andujar’s forehand deserted him at just the wrong time. The Brit brought up three set points and needed just one.
The third set proved to be a relatively routine affair, Norrie taking control in the third game when a break to love was sealed with a double fault from Andujar.
After holding to make it 5-3, Norrie saw three match points come and go on the Spaniard’s serve, with play suspended as the game went to deuce for a sixth time.
A seventh and eighth deuce followed as the players walked back out to glorious sunshine, and Norrie was at last able to get the job done with a lovely forehand winner down the line.
