Novak Djokovic brushed past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5) yesterday to book his place in the third round of Wimbledon.
The defending champion, aiming for his third consecutive title, played well within himself and was rarely troubled during the second-round match.
Mannarino, ranked 55, put up spirited resistance in the third set to force a tiebreak but was ultimately swept off Centre Court by the Serbian’s laser-guided groundstrokes. World number one Djokovic holds all four grand slam titles and has another historic mark in his sights.
The 29-year-old is aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to achieve the calendar Grand Slam — winning the four majors in a single season.
Tomas Berdych battled the elements and a gritty display by unseeded Croatian Ivan Dodig at a rain-ravaged Wimbledon yesterday, sealing a four-set victory he admitted should have been his the previous day.
The 10th-seeded Czech, on the hunt for a new coach after splitting with Dani Vallverdu following May’s Italian Open, won 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(2) — one of only two matches completed by mid-afternoon as the weather cut a swathe through the programme for the second day running.
“The situation right now, it’s fine to me, and [a coach is] definitely something that I’m looking for,” he told reporters, adding he wanted a long-term working relationship rather than one focused on individual tournaments.
Number three seed Agnieska Radwanska eased through her rain-delayed first-round match at Wimbledon, beating Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova 6-2 6-1.
The Pole raced into an early lead, breaking twice in the four first games before being pegged back by Kozlova, who did not seem in the least bit overawed despite making her debut at Wimbledon under the roof on Centre Court.
Radwanska, who reached the final in 2012, has never lost a first-round match on the Wimbledon grass and she kept up that record, sealing victory on her third match point.
