Top seed Novak Djokovic took full advantage of Wimbledon’s Centre Court roof to reach the third round as he defeated American Bobby Reynolds 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday to move into the third round.
While the week’s first rain eventually forced cancellation of eight singles matches on the end of the programme, the Serb top seed was untouched by poor conditions.
Djokovic is now the only former Wimbledon Champion left in the draw following the second-round defeats of seven-time champion Roger Federer and 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt on Wednesday.
The Serb calmly dominated qualifier Reynolds, playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2009.
The Reynolds ouster set a negative record for one-time tennis power the United States.
It was the first year since 1912 that no American man has reached the third round at Wimbledon, a year when no American competed. At this edition, 11 US man started the event on Monday.
“It’s strange that so many top players lost in one or two days,” said Djokovic. “All the lower-ranked players have extra motivation to perform their best. They have nothing to lose on the big stage.
“I needed to be extra careful today. With the roof closed the court was slower than I expected. I played well in the last two sets.
“My game is there. All I need now is to try and capitalise on my opportunities.”
Men's Singles
Four seeds advanced unhindered as Paul-Henri Mathieu became the ninth pullout victim of a rough 48 hours as he lost 6-3, 5-1, to Eastbourne champion Feliciano Lopez.
Andreas Seppi moved ahead due to France’s Michael Llodra retiring trailing 7-5 after a day of seven retirements on Black Wednesday.
The pullouts marked the 12th retirement/walkover in total and equals the all-time record for the most retirements/walkovers in a single round at any slam in the post-1968 Open era.
2010 finalist and seventh seed Tomas Berdych beat German Daniel Brands 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-2, number eight Juan Del Potro put down Canadian Jesse Levine 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.
French ninth seed Richard Gasquet stopped Go Soeda 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 but number 12 Kei Nishikori took a Japanese win over Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2. Australian Bernard Tomic dispatched American James Blake, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
Women's Singles
On the women’s side, experienced Asian aces won, with 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm and China’s Li Na advancing.
Sixth seed Li went walkabout in the second set but the former French Open champion eventually pulled together for a 6-2, 1-6, 6-0 result over Romanian Simona Halep, winner of her last 11 matches which included WTA grass titles in Germany and the Netherlands.
Li eventually ran away to victory as she swept the final set.
But the seed realised that her win was a close call. “I would like to say, welcome to the crazy women’s tennis tour,” joked the 31-year-old.
“At the end of the first set, she called the official. I thought, ’Maybe she retires or something.’ I lost concentration on the court.
At one set all, I woke up and said ‘she kicked your ass already in the second set. So you should be ready for a final set.’” Date-Krumm became, at age 42, the oldest woman to reach a Wimbledon third round in the post-1968 Open era as she defeated Alexandra Cadantu 6-4, 7-5.
It was her first appearance in the Wimbledon third round since a 1996 semi-final at the event.
The Japanese wonder, ranked 84th, stopped her career in the late 1990s to marry and start a new life phase before returning almost where she left off five years ago.
Top seed Serena Williams beat Caroline Garcia of France 6-3, 6-2 while fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Mathilde Johansson 6-1, 6-3. Australian 14th seed Samantha Stosur flexed her muscles in a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Russian Olga Puchkova.
American Madison Keys continued to impress with a defeat of Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-2 but former semi-finalist Sabine Lisicki earned one back for Germany over last week’s Eastbourne winner Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1. Marina Erakovic put out China’s Peng Shuai 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.