(Wimbledon) Novak Djokovic, looking for a 24^e Grand Slam title to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record, qualified for the Wimbledon third round on Wednesday by beating Australian Jordan Thompson (70^e) 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 the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (88^e), quarter-finalist in 2014 and 2015, or the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry (32^e) for a place in 8^are of final.

The 36-year-old Serb will face the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (88^e), quarter-finalist in 2014 and 2015, or the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry (32^e) for a place in 8^are of final.

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 landed a 30^e straight win at Wimbledon since losing in the quarterfinals in 2017. He has since gone unbeaten with four consecutive titles. A fifth on July 16 would allow her to equal the record of eight Wimbledon titles held by Roger Federer, one length from the absolute record of Martina Navratilova.

Swiatek effortlessly

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek did not hang around the court, advancing to the third round in an expedited fashion 6-2, 6-0 against Spaniard Sara Tormo (84^e).

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 1h10 to reach the third round, where she will face the Croatian Petra Martic (29^e world player) or the French Diane Parry (96^e).

Holger Rune wins his first game on the London turf

The Danish Holger Rune, 6^e 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 (371^e 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 (57^e) or the Italian from the qualifications Matteo Arnaldi (80^e) to try to make it to the third round.

Maria Sakkari, 8^e seeded, out in first round

Greek player Maria Sakkari, seeded number 8 at the Wimbledon women’s tournament, was eliminated in the first round by Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (36^e) 0-6, 7-5, 6-2.

In a match interrupted twice 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 at 3^e and 5^e games to lead 5-1 and finish on his first match point at 6-2.

Medvedev tames a tough Fery

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, 391^e 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, notably with seven aces and 45 winning points, against 24 for Féry, ended up making the difference.

Daria Kasatkina wins

Russian player Daria Kasatkina, seeded number 11, was the first to qualify on a day that was again heavily disturbed by rain by crushing Great Britain’s Jodie Burrage 6-0, 6-2.

While 87 matches were scheduled for the third day, after Tuesday’s had already been considerably truncated by bad weather, the matches not only started late, but they were also interrupted twice 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 grass-court tournament at Eastbourne last week, from getting serious about qualifying for 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 and environmental activists disrupt action

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 little 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.

Associated Press