LONDON (Reuters) - Cypriot number 10 seed Marcos Baghdatis reached the second round of a sun-kissed Wimbledon on Monday with a workmanlike 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-3 win over Belgian Steve Darcis.

"I'm pretty happy with the way I was playing on the baseline, not so happy with the way I served," he said, acknowledging that his grasscourt game needed fine-tuning.

Baghdatis, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2006, survived three break points in the fifth game of the first set before seizing the initiative to take a 5-3 lead. He then won his serve to love.

In the second set, the Cypriot, who reached the quarter-finals of the Halle warm-up tournament last week before losing to champion Roger Federer, twice broke Darcis's serve.

But the Belgian, ranked 51 in the world and 26 places below Baghdatis, fought his way back in a tight tiebreak to land the third set before the Cypriot upped the pressure to tie up the match.

Baghdatis reckoned that Federer, who beat him 6-4 6-4 in Halle, was still a worthy favourite to land his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title but Rafael Nadal was catching up fast on grass.

"Nadal is playing great tennis. I think it is 52-48 percent -- no big difference," he said. "I am not putting all my money on Federer."

Baghdatis acknowledged that playing Federer on grass always proved to be a valuable masterclass.

"Playing against a guy like this on court, you learn a lot," he said.

"He can do anything, he can come to the net, he can move from behind, he can move pretty good on grass."

Baghdatis said grass was one of his favourite surfaces but when it came to grand slams, it was no contest between Wimbledon and the Australian Open, where as an outsider he reached the final two years ago before losing to Federer.

"Melbourne is the greatest tournament for me. Why? Because of all the atmosphere around it, not only by the Greeks but by all the countries." (Editing by Clare Lovell)