World number one Angelique Kerber safely negotiated her way through her opening round at Wimbledon but then admitted she will be keeping a wary eye on the British woman who ended her challenge in Eastbourne last week.

Johanna Konta’s opening round win on Monday was only her second at the sport’s most famous venue, but the sixth seed performed impressively in proving she had shaken off the back injury suffered towards the end of her defeat of Kerber in the Aegon Championships.

The women’s draw is reckoned to be as open as it has ever been as top seed Kerber acknowledged, but after her 6-4, 64 defeat of Irina Falconi she suggested that Konta is among those in contention.

“I think there are a lot right now,” said the German, who was beaten in the final last year by Serena Williams.

“I think the pressure is on a lot of players. We will see. It's still a long way to go there, but Johanna has a chance, for sure.

“She played well on grass in Eastbourne and also I think the week before she played well and reached the final.

“She's a really dangerous player, especially on grass.

“She hits the ball very fast, had a great serve when I was playing against her. I think she had, like, 80% first serves in. This is what makes the game dangerous on grass.”

Kerbere has admitted to finding it difficult to cope with her status at the top of the women’s game, but claimed she is beginning to adjust.

“There is much more expectation, much more pressure, from me, from outside, from everything,” said the 29-year-old.

“You have much more things also to do. So I think the biggest challenge is to schedule your day completely new than if you were, like, 10 in the world.

“I'm still enjoying it, though.

“Of course, there are things that are a little bit tough and hard to do, as well, but, I mean, it was always a dream. I will always enjoy it, that I was one day the No. 1, even like when I will look back in five years.”

Another who has struggled with increased expectation is Spain’s Gabrine Muguruza who reached no.2 in the rankings after beating Williams in the French Open final last year, but has slumped to number 15 in the interim.

She, too, made a steady start to her Wimbledon campaign with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova, but still admitted to finding things tougher than it appeared it should.

“It didn't look that easy from inside, honestly, but I'm happy. I was just nervous to play the first round. You never know how it's going to go,” said the 23-year-old Spaniard.

“I didn't play my best tennis, but I wasn't thinking that today I was going to play either, but I’m happy I'm handling these tough matches well.”

The expected quarter-finalists in the women’s draw have all made it through to the second round, third seed Karolina Pliskova seeing off Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 6-4 in her opening tie, while former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, the fifth seed, had a tougher time of it, dropping a set before beating Timea Babos 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.