London, July 3: World No 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain on Tuesday kicked off his Wimbledon campaign with a dominating victory against Israel's Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the Grand Slam tournament's second round.

The two-time Wimbledon champion took an hour and 50 minutes to eliminate Sela, world No. 127, moving a step closer to claiming his 18th Grand Slam title, reported Efe.

Nadal broke Sela's serve six times and struck 31 winners compared to his Israeli opponent's 18.

Nadal was starting at Wimbledon without having played a competitive grass-court match this season, after pulling out of the Queen's Cup tournament to regroup after an outstanding string of clay-court victories, including his 11th Monte-Carlo Masters, Barcelona Open and French Open titles.

In the next round, the 32-year-old Spaniard will play the winner of the match between Canada's Vasek Pospisil and Russia's Mikhail Kukushkin.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 04, 2018 01:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).