The Swiss star was facing the lowest ranked player to progress to the second round since 1998, after Willis battled through six rounds of qualifying and the opening round to reach this stage.

Federer ensured Willis’ story did not take an even more extraordinary turn as the third seed triumphed 6-0 in the opening set, but the new home favourite was able to get off the mark by earning his first game in the second set.

Despite his lowly ranking, the Briton produced some impressive shots in the encounter but unsurprisingly fell to a straight sets 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 loss.

The 34-year-old could face another British opponent in the third round, with Dan Evans taking on Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov for the right to play Federer.

Defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic also breezed through as the Serbian eased to a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 win over France’s Adrian Mannarino.

Djokovic will take on either America’s Sam Querrey or Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci.

Australia’s Bernard Tomic came through one of the closest ties of the day as the 23-year-old triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

Women’s third seed Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland booked her place in the second round after easily overcoming Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 6-1.

Two-time champion Petra Kvitova also got her campaign underway in style, with the Czech winning 6-0, 6-4 against Sorana Cirstea of Romania.

There was cause for home fans to be optimistic when Johanna Konta, the first British woman to be seeded at Wimbledon since Jo Durie in 1984, eased past Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 6-1, 7-5.

She will face the winner of the match between Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova.