James Blake has become the first seeded casualty at Wimbledon when he was beaten 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 in just over two hours by Andreas Seppi.

The No17 seed came into the tournament on the back of his fine run at Queen's Club where he finished runner-up to Andy Murray in the Aegon Championships.

But today the American struggled against Seppi's powerful baseline play from the off.

Blake finally gathered himself in the third set, racing to a 5-0 lead in the tie‑break only for his Italian opponent to reel off seven straight points and book a clash with France's Marc Gicquel.

“This has probably been my worst slam and I don't understand why,” said Blake. “I had a great week of practice. I was actually playing great in practice and I thought I had a good chance to do very well here. I guess things can change pretty quickly.

“I just didn't feel like myself out there. Andreas played well when he had to and I didn't. He made a lot of first serves and he did a great job with his backhand.

“I also needed to do a better job of counter‑attacking but he did a good job of not letting me.”