(Wimbledon) Novak Djokovic, chasing a 24th Grand Slam title to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record, qualified for the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday by beating Australia’s Jordan Thompson (70) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 in 2:27.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to face him so early (in the tournament),” assured the 36-year-old Serb, emphasizing the quality of his opponent’s game when he himself does not yet consider himself the best. of his level.
“He was unlucky in the second set,” added Djokovic who will face Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka (88th), quarter-finalist in 2014 and 2015, or Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry (32nd) for a place in 8th. of final.
The 36-year-old Serb will face the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (88th), quarter-finalist in 2014 and 2015, or the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry (32nd) for a place in the round of 16.
The match between Wawrinka and Etcheverry has been postponed to Thursday due to the rain which has been disrupting the tournament since Monday.
With that success on Wednesday, Djokovic notched his 30th straight Wimbledon win since losing the quarter-finals in 2017. He has since gone unbeaten with four straight titles. A fifth on July 16 would allow her to equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles, one length short of Martina Navratilova’s all-time record.
World number one Iga Swiatek did not drag on the court, qualifying for the third round in an expeditious fashion 6-2, 6-0 against the Spaniard Sara Tormo (84th).
The suspense did not last long, the Polish breaking on her opponent’s first service game.
Tormo broke well in stride, but the sequel was almost a formality, Swiatek leaving him only one game and not conceding a break point in the whole match.
In the end, it only took her 1 hour 10 minutes to reach the third round, where she will face the Croatian Petra Martic (29th player in the world) or the French Diane Parry (96th).
The Dane Holger Rune, 6th in the world, has already proven himself on all surfaces, but he won his first match on Wednesday on the grass of Wimbledon by beating in the first round the Briton George Loffhagen (371st and guest) 7-6 (7 /4), 6-3, 6-2.
The match was interrupted by rain on Tuesday as Rune had just won a hung first set.
On Wednesday’s resumption, he was much more dominant.
At 20, he will face the Spaniard Roberto Carbales (57th) or the Italian from the qualifications Matteo Arnaldi (80th) to try to climb to the third round.
Greek player Maria Sakkari, seeded number 8 in the Wimbledon women’s tournament, was eliminated in the first round by Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (36th) 0-6, 7-5, 6-2.
In a match twice interrupted by rain, Sakkari went it alone in the first set dispatched in 27 minutes.
But Kostyuk woke up next, leading 5-3 in the second set before losing her engagement as she served to tie it one set all.
The Ukrainian managed to redo the break in stride to secure the win of the set at 7-5.
She then clearly had the upper hand, breaking in games 3 and 5 to lead 5-1 and finish on her first match point at 6-2.
The Russian player and seeded number 3 in the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev, had to work hard to qualify in three sets 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 against Briton Arthur Féry, 391st in the world in the first round.
For his very first match in the main draw of a big tournament, Féry, who received an invitation, managed to erase breaks against him in the first and second sets.
With his game while touching and not hesitating to get to the net, despite a rather modest size (1.74m), he considerably hampered the Russian whose best result on the London turf so far has been an eighth finals in 2021.
But the power of Medvedev, including seven aces and 45 winning points, against 24 for Féry, ended up making the difference.
Russian player Daria Kasatkina, seeded number 11, was the first to qualify on a day again heavily disturbed by the rain by crushing the British Jodie Burrage 6-0, 6-2.
With 87 matches scheduled for Matchday 3, after Tuesday’s had already been significantly truncated by inclement weather, matches not only started late, but were also twice interrupted to cover the courts.
Even at the Central, where Kasatkina’s match was being played, the roof of which had been left open, a small downpour had forced the two players to return to the locker room for a few minutes in the second set.
That didn’t stop the Russian player, who won the Eastbourne grass-court tournament last week, from getting serious about advancing to the third round.
Against Burrage, who received an invitation, she was ruthless, winning 6-2, 6-0 in just over an hour, without interruption of play.
Rain again disrupted play on the third day of the tournament and environmental activists also interrupted two matches.
Intermittent downpours on Wednesday forced matches on the outdoor courts to be suspended twice, while play at the main stadiums was also halted for a short time due to inclement weather.
Two ‘Just Stop Oil’ protesters were arrested after disrupting a game by running onto Court 18 and throwing orange confetti on the grass, before being led away by security.
The first-round match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro was thus interrupted at the start of the second set, and the rain arrived before the confetti could be removed.
The match resumed with the others after the rain delay. Both protesters were arrested “on suspicion of aggravated trespassing and criminal damage,” the All England Club said in a statement.
A few hours later, at the next game on the same pitch, another man representing the same organization also threw orange confetti on the lawn before security guards arrested him and escorted him off the pitch.
“Obviously it’s not nice,” Dimitrov said after winning his match in straight sets.
“At the end of the day, there’s not much to do. I think everyone did their job as fast as they could. The rain was coming, so I was a bit lucky to get off the court and have some time to pull myself together and forget about it all. »
Wimbledon has tightened its security in coordination with London police and other agencies ahead of this year’s tournament, in part following protests at other major sporting venues in Britain this year.
Rain had already caused a significant delay in matches after the first two days, and only eight fixtures were completed on Tuesday. Several games scheduled on the outdoor courts on Wednesday have been postponed to Thursday.
Only Center Court and the All England Club’s number one court are covered.