LONDON. – Top seed Novak Djokovic looked every bit the dominant player who has won the last three Wimbledon titles in a commanding 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis on Wednesday to power into the third round.
The 35-year-old, bidding for his seventh Wimbledon title, looked scratchy during his opening win over Kwon Soon-woo but he was back close to his usual lofty standards against the 79th-ranked Kokkinakis.
The Australian defeated Roger Federer in the second round of the Miami Masters in 2018 but there were no signs of another upset on Centre Court as the 20-time major champion dictated terms from the start.
It was the 23rd straight victory for Djokovic at the grasscourt Grand Slam.
In women’s play, Emma Raducanu’s Wimbledon hopes were ruthlessly crushed on Centre Court by France’s Caroline Garcia as the golden girl of British sport suffered a 6-3, 6-3 second-round loss.
The 19-year-old, who rocketed to fame with her spellbinding US Open triumph last year, did not play badly but had no answer to Garcia’s superior firepower.
Garcia, a former top-10 player with three grasscourt titles on her CV, dominated the opening set as her aggressive return game and heavy serving unsettled the 10th-seeded Raducanu.
She continued blazing away in the second set as Raducanu, despite partisan support, fell away.
“I’m very happy with my performance today,” Djokovic said on court. “I thought I started off very well, very solid from the back of the court, made him work for every point that I managed to get his serve back in play.
“I tried to work him around the court, bringing a lot of variety to the game.
Big-hitting American John Isner sent two-time champion Andy Murray crashing out 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-4 with booming serves and a barrage of aces in a second-round clash.
While the 37-year-old Isner strode ever closer to Ivo Karlovic’s aces record of 13,728 on the ATP Tour, Murray made his earliest exit despite battling back from the brink by winning a third set tiebreak.
Cheers of “Let’s go Andy, let’s go” echoed around Centre Court before the roof came out and the hope faded along with the evening light.
Isner broke Murray in the third game of the first set and then held serve under heavy pressure in the next when the Scot, swooping in with backhand passes, had two chances to break straight back. — Reuters
