LONDON: Andy Murray moved into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday after winning a tough four-set battle with American Robert Kendrick.

Murray, the third seed bidding to become Britain's first men's champion since Fred Perry in 1936, won 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-3 and now faces Latvian Ernests Gulbis for a place in the last 32.

The Scot got off to an ideal start, breaking his opponent's serve in the opening game of match and winning the first 11 points on his own to seize an early advantage.

Kendrick levelled things up at 4-4 but Murray broke again to clinch the set in the 12th game of the set.

The second set was dropped on a tiebreak but Murray resumed control of the match when the American double faulted twice to concede a 4-2 lead in the third.

A match that was much tighter than anyone had expected finally came to a halt after two hours and 38 minutes when Kendrick fired a powerful Murray serve long.