Andy Roddick has never lost a set to Victor Hanescu, never mind a match. No wonder his 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win here was so brisk. He controlled the match from start to finish, secure in the knowledge that Hanescu posed only a negligible threat when he was receiving serve. Hanescu took just three points off Roddick's serve in the first set, three in the second, and three more in the third. Roddick, in the starkest possible contrast, broke Hanescu's first service games in the first and second sets, earning a lead he never looked like relinquishing.

Ruthless as Roddick's performance was, it all felt a little perfunctory. Soon enough the crowd on Centre Court had resorted to amusing themselves with cries and catcalls from the stands.

They should have known better; last year Hanescu was fined $7,500 (£4,700) after he spat at a group of inebriated spectators who had been heckling him. Hanescu had been trying to get that match, against Austria's Daniel Brands, called off for the night because of bad light. When his request was denied he foot-faulted all four points in his next service game and then retired with a thigh injury.

The crowd had either forgiven or forgotten that incident, and offered the Romanian plenty of support. Perhaps it was because he was such a clear underdog and has such a hapless demeanour. Hanescu is hopelessly injury-prone. That same thigh injury cropped again in the first round of this year's French Open and forced him to retire there too. So it was something of a surprise when he soldiered on against Roddick after calling a medical time-out so he could get treatment on his right wrist midway through the second set.

At that point the crowd resorted to a Mexican wave that met a conspicuous watershed when it reached the royal box. Hanescu had slipped in mid-court and fallen awkwardly on his wrist, which was already taking a pounding from Roddick's bone-jarring serves.

"We want 140!" shouted a fan at one point. Roddick did not quite get there, but topped out at 137mph. Even his slowest was a lot quicker than anything his opponent could offer.

Hanescu enjoyed the merest sniff of an opportunity at the start of the third set, earning himself a solitary break point. Roddick stamped on his chances and soon took the game, sealing it with another howitzer serve. Overall he hit 15 aces, won 93% of the points on his first serve and 74% on his second.

"I felt pretty good out there," he said afterwards, mopping a little sweat from his brow. It was amazing he had any left to get rid of given that he called for his towel after every single point he played. "I served well, returned well, and there were only a couple of shots I wish I had back."

He looked in ominously good form. And while he admitted to being surprised to be given a match on Centre Court so early in the tournament, that only reflected his status as a grandee of the grass-court game.

This surface brings out the best in him. "I love playing at Wimbledon," Roddick said. "I love playing at London, there's nothing not to be excited about." He volleyed well, and on the odd occasions that a rally did break out he soon battered Hanescu back beyond the baseline and out of the point.

Roddick closed the match out as he had started it, with another service game to love. He will play Spain's Feliciano López in the next round, another player he has an outstanding record against, having lost to him only once in eight matches.