Pristine Djokovic storms into third round with Kokkinakis thrashing

Top seed Novak Djokovic once again looked every bit the dominant player who has won the last three Wimbledon titles as he swept aside Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1 6-4 6-2 on Wednesday to power into the third round of the Championships.

On Monday the 35-year-old, bidding for his fourth Wimbledon title in a row and his seventh overall, had looked scratchy in his opening win against Kwon Soon-woo but he was back close to lofty standards against the 79th-ranked Kokkinakis.

The Australian famously defeated Roger Federer in the second round of the Miami Masters in 2018 but there were no signs of another upset during the contest on Centre Court as the 20-time major champion dictated terms from the start.

The Serb, who defeated Kokkinakis in straight sets during their only previous meeting seven years back at Roland Garros, broke his opponent's delivery early in each of the three sets for a total of five break of serves during the contest. Djokovic faced a lone break point on his own serve and closed out the victory in two hours on his second match point to set up a third-round meeting against either Chile's Alejandro Tabilo or Serb compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic.

Second seed Anett Kontaveit tumbled out of Wimbledon in the second round on Wednesday, thumped 6-4 6-0 by big-serving Jule Niemeier, who is making a mark on her first appearance at the Championships.

The 26-year-old Kontaveit could not counter the German's huge groundstrokes and looked progressively more downhearted as she failed to find her range on a sunny No.1 court.

Estonian Kontaveit has talked about suffering fatigue this year after a Covid-19 infection and has not played a match since the French Open last month where she was beaten in the first round. She looked out of sorts against Niemeier, spraying groundstrokes long and wide and making 24 unforced errors in a match lasting 58 minutes.

Niemeier, 22, and ranked 97 in the world after injury problems disrupted her early progress on the tour, jumped and punched the air when Kontaveit put yet another shot into the net on match point.

“It's amazing,” she told an appreciative lunchtime crowd. “It's one of the greatest wins of my career so far.”

Niemeier said she was nervous before the match on a show court. “But I love to play on grass — it suits my game.”

She will play either Anhelina Kalinina or Lesia Tsurenko, both from Ukraine, in the third round.