Having never played Alex Kim before, Juan Antonio Marin had to work out a game plan as he went along.

It clearly worked as the Costa Rican ran out a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 first round winner in front of an appreciative Centre Court crowd at Coral Beach Club last night.

Winning the first game settled any pre-match nerves he may have had and breaking his American opponent in the fourth added further to his confidence.

Though Kim broke back in the next, Marin replied with a break of his own and that he would go on to seal the first set.

If Kim tried to instil some faith in himself during the break it must surely have taken another dent when Marin, the world number 153, broke him again in the first game of the second set.

Both players had put their all into a long rally, Kim working his way forward only to put the ball into the net when it seemed a winner was on.

Marin held his own serve then broke Kim again in the third to establish a 3-0 lead, and when a shot from the Central American in the next bounced twice on the net chord before falling onto Kim's side of the court you sensed it would all be over fairly soon.

To his credit Kim battled back to break Marin in that game and held serve in the next, but he was only prolonging the inevitable outcome, Marin winning the remaining three games and sealing victory with an ace.

"I started to move him a little bit in the beginning," said Marin, explaining his tactics afterwards. "He had a very good forehand crosscourt and he was causing me some pain running to my forehand. So I started to play more to his backhand and I was comfortable then."

Marin, who played in Estoril last week, said he believed he was in good form, considering he suffered a setback before he could really get into his stride.

"I started a little bit late this year because I was injured," he said. "I have only played five tournaments but I am fit now and playing well."

Today sees a whole host of matches taking place with the highlights being the tournament's number one seed Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark taking on Sergio Roitman of Argentina on Centre Court and defending champion Flavio Saretta of Brazil facing qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac of France on Court Five.

Other matches of interest see Todd Martin of the USA taking on Noam Okun of Israel and Jeff Morrison of the USA encountering Harel Levy, the conqueror of Bermuda's own Jenson Bascome in qualifying.

The evening's entertainment sees well-known German Nicolas Kiefer playing 2000 tournament winner Andrew Ilie of Australia and Justin Gimelstob of the USA facing promising Canadian Frank Dancevic.