Roof rescues Wimbledon as Djokovic, Federer advance

Rain disrupted play for a second day yesterday at the Wimbledon Championships as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer motored to one-way wins under the closed roof of Centre Court. While the rest of the field experienced an interruption of nearly four hours, 16 second-round matches were cancelled, a lucky few were undisturbed on the showcourt.
Outside matches were suspended in the early afternoon due to the wet weather, expected to linger through the weekend. The players were able to get onto court in the early evening during a welcome dry period.
Top seed Djokovic had to serve twice for victory over Adrian Mannarino, winning 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) on his opponent’s 28th birthday to reach the third round.
Federer ended the fairytale of number 772 club-pro Briton Marcus Willis, beating the rank outsider 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in 84 minutes. Seven-time Wimbledon champion Federer won the first even games against the home player, who captured the imagination of the nation for 48 hours after coming through pre-qualifying and qualifying to reach the opening round, then miraculously advanced onto the match with the Swiss tennis icon.
“It was a very different match,” Federer said. “He brought a lot of energy to the court with his play and personality. It’s refreshing to play an opponent like this. He drew a crowd and had some great shot making. I had some pressure on my shoulders. But in my mind I was playing a guy ranked in the top 50.
I’m feeling pretty good right now and happy to be in their third round.”
Due to the rain and a poor forecast through the weekend, officials took the radical decision to cut the men’s doubles first round to the best of three sets in order to eventually get things moving this week. Djokovic’s victory marked his 30th in a row at the grand slams as he bids for a fourth Wimbledon title and third at a major this season.
“When I failed to serve it out (leading 5-4 in the third set), the crowd really got into it,” the top seed said. “I was fortunate to be playing under the roof. It helps to have the roof on days like this. The atmosphere when it is closed is special. It gets really loud. I cannot say I’m surprised by 30 straight wins, I have high expectations for myself. I’m grateful that I’m able to play at a high level so consistently.”
Eighth seed Dominic Thiem beat Florian Mayer 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round while 10th seed Tomas Berdych and Ivan Dodig took charge in a match that was paused from the day before. They returned and finished their opening contest in drizzle, with Berdych posting a 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) win on his third match point.
Immediately after they left, the court was covered to join the 14 others buried under green tarps. German teenager Alexander Zverev reached the second round over Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 while Bernard Tomic finished off Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Under the roof, women’s third seed Agnieszka Radwanska turned in a quick 6-2, 6-1 first-round defeat of Kateryna Kozlova. The 97th-ranked Ukrainian Kozlova served a six-month ban last season after testing positive for a banned supplement.
Radwanska reached the 2012 final and 2015 semis and remains untouchable in the Wimbledon first round with a 10-0 record. “It’s not good weather right now. I was really lucky to play on the Centre today, that’s for sure,” she said. “At least you can have your match, especially that is already one day delayed.”
Two-time champion and tenth seed Petra Kvitova beat Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-4; Britain’s number 16 Johanna Konta stopped Monica Puig 6-1, 7-5.

Results
(x denotes seeded player):
Men: second round: Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5); Roger Federer (SUI x3) bt Marcus Willis (GBR) 6-0, 6-3, 6-4
First round: Dominic Thiem (AUT x8) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; Jirí Veselý (CZE) bt Igor Sijsling (NED) 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7); Alexander Zverev (GER x24) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Tomas Berdych (CZE x10) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO) 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7/2); Radu Albot (MDA) bt Gastão Elias (POR) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4; Bernard Tomic (AUS x19) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Women: First round: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x21) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) 7-5, 1-6, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x3) bt Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) 6-2, 6-1; Ana Konjuh (CRO) bt Karin Knapp (ITA) 6-3, 6-3; Johanna Konta (GBR x16) bt Mónica Puig (PUR) 6-1, 7-5; Petra Kvitova (CZE x10) bt Sorana Cirstea (ROM) 6-0, 6-4; Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) bt Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) 6-3, 7-5; Andrea Petkovic (GER x32) bt Nao Hibino (JPN) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; Julia Boserup (USA) bt Tatjana Malek (GER) 6-4, 0-6, 6-2

History man Djokovic aims to keep breaking records
London: Novak Djokovic made tennis history at Wimbledon yesterday when he notched up the most consecutive Grand Slam match victories in the Open Era, and said he aimed to continue his assault on the record books.
The defending champion brushed past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3 7-6(5) to book his place in the third round. It was his 30th consecutive Grand Slam match win, beating Rod Laver’s record of 29 set in 1969-70. “I have to be very grateful to have the opportunity to make the history of the sport,” the world number one told reporters.
“Knowing that I won 30 in a row, it’s very pleasing. I want to keep on going. Let’s see where it takes me. Every single record that I managed to achieve in the last couple of years is important,” he added. “Every next one that I have a possibility to achieve is more motivation.”
Djokovic last lost a Slam match when he was defeated by Stan Wawrinka in the 2015 French Open final. He now holds all four major titles, and has another historic mark in his sights. The 29-year-old Serb is aiming to become the first man since Laver in 1969 to achieve the calendar Grand Slam — winning the four major titles in a single season. Djokovic is seeking his third consecutive Wimbledon crown.

Roddick says Wimbledon grass the best chance for Federer
Andy Roddick has tipped Wimbledon as the best chance for icon Roger Federer to add to his all-time leading total of 17 Grand Slam singles titles. Roddick was the last American man to win a Grand Slam title in 2003 (US Open) and quit the game at 30.
He has a painful Wimbledon history, losing finals to Federer in 2004, 2005 and 2009. “It’s always exciting to see if Roger can win one more time and I think his best shot is Wimbledon. I think he’s Wimbledon’s favourite son, the relationship that he has with the crowd there is amazing. I saw it first hand too many times unfortunately.” Roddick said.
“It’s going to be the usual suspects. Any tournament Novak (Djokovic) enters he’s the favourite. It doesn’t matter which surface and I think that’s the ultimate compliment to show how complete he has become and how dominant he has been in the last two or three years.”
Roddick also has an eye out for Andy Murray, beaten by Djokovic in the finals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros this season. “It’s going to be exciting with Andy in front of the home crowd. What he did by winning Wimbledon when he did (2013) was such a huge thing. It was a huge deal being able to deal with the pressure and we’ll see if he can do it again,” Roddick added.