Ward so close to a shock at Queens before being sunk by Safin

The 21-year-old from Middlesex - who came through qualifying to make a main ATP Tour event for only the second time - delighted the partisan home crowd as he broke the two-time grand slam winner in the third game of the opening set and grew in stature.

So close: James Ward almost pulled off a shock

However, it was a different scenario when the second set began, the 28-year-old Russian finding his range to force an early break before brushing aside Ward, ranked 495 in the world, 6-1 to put himself back in the driving seat.  

Safin moved 3-1 ahead in the final set, but had to save two break points in game six before eventually closing out the match, 4-6 6-1 6-4, in just short of two hours.  

There was plenty of home interest on day one of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, but all the Britons saw their hopes of progress dashed.  

Davis Cup player Alex Bogdanovic, the British number two, lost his first-round match against Australian Joseph Sirianni in straight sets.  

Bogdanovic, given a wildcard for this event after reaching the third round in last year, failed to recovered from a slow start as he went down 6-3 6-3.  

Josh Goodall put up a brave battle, but was outclassed 6-4 6-4 by former world number one and 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt.  

The 22-year-old wildcard entry from Basingstoke - ranked 269 in the latest ATP list - just had no answer to Hewitt's range, the Australian number 11 seed a four-time winner here. 

"It was my first match on grass this year, against Lleyton Hewitt, obviously one of the top grass-court players in the last decade," said Goodall, who may be forced to go through qualifying for Wimbledon if he is not given a wildcard.  

"I was a little bit tentative at the start in a few parts of my game. Other parts, I was really happy, my serve and my volleying. 

"That hasn't been my game style, and that's what I'm trying to work more towards.   "Overall, I think there were more positives than negatives."  

Hewitt, whose progress in 2008 has been hampered by a hip problem, was pleased with his opening match in the build-up to events at SW19.  

"That was a good knock because I felt like I served smartly throughout the match, hit my spots well when I needed to," the Australian said. 

"Wimbledon's one of my favourite tournaments of the year, if not my favourite. So, I love this month.   "I think I always go in with a good attitude, as well, which helps."  

The opening match today at Queen's saw Croatia's big hitting Mario Ancic - a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2004 - beat Nicolas Lapentti, of Ecuador, 7-5 6-3.  

British number one Andy Murray, who missed last year's event through injury, was scheduled to play his doubles match with partner Daniel Vallverdu, of Venezuela, against French pair Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Mahut as the final match on Centre Court.  

The top eight singles seeds - which also include newly-crowned French Open champion Rafael Nadal, Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and American four-time winner Roddick - all received byes into the second round.

Ward hopes his promising display against Safin is just the start of bigger and better things - which hopefully means the chance to play at Wimbledon via either a wildcard or qualifying.  

"I need to be travelling to tournaments I want to play," said Ward, who moved out to Spain aged 16 to attend the Juan-Carlos Ferrero academy.  

"I need to get out there and obviously the finances to get to the places I want to go, to play on the surfaces that I want to play, and to pick where I'm most comfortable would be nice from here on into the future,  

"You can see I am playing good tennis. I just hope to carry that on.   "I think the average age to break into the top 100 is about 24, so there's definitely time - but I don't want to waste any time. I'm working hard.  

"I know I can get there within the next year, year and a half. I'm confident in my ability that I will get there."  

Ward added: "I am in the game to get to the top. I'm not in there to be around 250, just taking freebies off the LTA.  

"I just hope I can break through sooner rather than later."  

Meanwhile, Bogdanovic - whose is coached by Brad Gilbert under the American's contract with the Lawn Tennis Association - tried to look for positives in his defeat to the Australian, who came through qualifying here. 

 "For me, it's just a matter of bouncing back. I have been working hard with Brad," said the Briton.  

"Hopefully this hard work will pay off somewhere down the line.  

"Maybe not next week or the week after, but somewhere two or three months down, I'm going to start to see results come."