Rafael Nadal has said that he must improve on his performance against Thomaz Bellucci if he is to challenge at Wimbledon.

The world number two beat the Brazilian in straight sets, but was made to work hard for his place in the second round.

The Spaniard said that he grew into the contest and, in the end, he was happy with his overall performance.

"I don't think I played my best match today," said Nadal. "Especially in the first set, I was too nervous and didn't know what to do. But I was able to keep winning the first set. That's the important thing and the good news. Then I started to play better.

"I have to improve a lot in the next round. I made more mistakes than usual, I was very lucky to come back from 4-0 down.

"The second and third set I played better, even if I made mistakes. I felt in that moment I started to hit my forehand better. That's the most important thing for me. In the beginning I didn't start the best, but I finished well so I'm happy."

Nadal will take on the Czech Republic's Lukas Rosol in the next round.