Milos Raonic advances to 3rd round at Wimbledon
6th-seeded Canadian overcomes early struggles for 4-set win
Canada's Milos Raonic advanced to the third round of Wimbledon with a 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 7-5 win over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny on Thursday.
Raonic, the sixth seed from Thornhill, Ont., picked up a key break to take a 6-5 lead in the third set. He later secured the victory with his 27th ace of the match.
The match on the No. 2 court at the All England Club took two hours 40 minutes to complete. Raonic, a finalist last year at Wimbledon, will next face 25th-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.
Ramos-Vinolas needed five sets to complete a 7-5, 6-7 (6), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Russia's Andrey Rublev. The match lasted three hours 32 minutes.
Raonic and Ramos-Vinolas have split their two previous meetings. Raonic was victorious when they met in Davis Cup play in 2013 and Ramos-Vinolas defeated the Canadian in the round of 16 last year on clay at the French Open.
Djokovic moves into 3rd round in 3 sets
Novak Djokovic had to play all three sets at Wimbledon this time.
The three-time champion advanced to the third round by beating Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 Thursday, two days after his opening match ended early when his opponent retired with an injury.
Djokovic won the Wimbledon title in 2011, '14 and '15. But he has not won a major title since completing a career Grand Slam at the 2016 French Open.
He will next face Juan Martin del Potro or Ernests Gulbis. Del Potro beat Djokovic in the first round at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Roger Federer and Angelique Kerber are also scheduled to play on Day 4 at Wimbledon.
Federer, a seven-time champion at the All England Club, will play on Centre Court against Dusan Lajovic in the second round.
The top-ranked Kerber will face Kirsten Flipkens on No. 1 Court.
Grigor Dimitrov and David Ferrer reached the third round.
Dimitrov, the 13th-seeded player from Bulgaria, beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, while Ferrer advanced when opponent Steve Darcis retired with an injury while trailing 3-0.
Darcis is the eighth man to retire during a match this week. The Belgian took a medical timeout after 18 minutes of play and was unable to continue.
Two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded seventh, advanced to the third round along with 24th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe.
Two players previously eliminated from the tournament were handed fines.
Bernard Tomic of Australia was fined $15,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct two days after he spoke about feeling "a little bit bored out there" during his match.
Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who threw a handful coins in the direction of the chair umpire after a second-round loss on Wednesday, was given three fines totalling $14,500.
Federer moves on in straight sets
Roger Federer lost his first service game, but not much else after that.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion advanced to the third round by beating Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (0), 6-3, 6-2.
Lajovic opened up a 2-0 lead by breaking Federer in the second game on Centre Court. But Federer broke right back and then dominated the tiebreaker.
Federer won the Australian Open this year but skipped the French Open. He is looking to win a record-breaking eighth men's title at the All England Club.