Djokovic cruises into Wimbledon third round

LONDON: Novak Djokovic shrugged off sweltering 30-degree heat to breeze past outclassed Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 and reach the Wimbledon third round on Thursday.

The three-time champion brushed aside the 136rd-ranked Czech on Court One to make the last-32 for the ninth year in succession.Djokovic, the second seed whose shock third round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon 12 months ago precipitated a worrying decline in form.

“It was a very warm day, it wasn’t easy to play point after point and some long rallies,” said Djokovic as his comfortable Wimbledon continued following a first round in which opponent Martin Klizan had retired hurt after just 40 minutes.

“But overall, from the very beginning I managed to impose my own rhythm and play the game I intended to play.“I feel better as the days go by in Wimbledon. I’ve been in this particular situation before many times and I’ll try to use the experience to get myself in the right shape.”

Ernests Gulbis sprang a Wimbledon surprise as the world number 589 defeated former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).Gulbis will face three-time champion Novak Djokovic in the third round after scoring his best result in three years.

The 28-year-old Latvian was ranked in the top-10 in 2014 — the year he beat Roger Federer en route to the French Open semi-finals.Since then, Gulbis has slumped badly and his Wimbledon opening round win over Victor Estrella, was his first on tour in 13 months, a decline which has seen his ranking crash to his lowest position in 12 years.

Watched by compatriot and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, he was in charge from start to finish against Del Potro.Del Potro, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2013, was pushed to the brink of retirement after three wrist surgeries.

But the Argentine 29th seed had surged back to help his country win a maiden Davis Cup title last year and was expected to make a strong run at Wimbledon.

With searing temperatures hitting 30 degrees on Court Three, the match was halted when a woman appeared to suffer the effects of prolonged exposure to the sun midway through the second set.

Spectators held umbrellas over the woman while ambulance staff came to treat her before a stretcher eventually arrived.Del Potro passed a water bottle into the crowd to be given to the woman while he and Gulbis waited for play to resume.

Del Potro had lost the first set 6-4 and was trailing 3-2 in the second before the delay, but Gulbis wasn’t distracted by the interruption as he powered to a memorable win.

Meanwhile, Bernard Tomic may have been knocked out but the Australian was still making waves on Thursday when he was fined $15,000 after claiming he was “bored” during his lacklustre defeat to Mischa Zverev.

Tomic, who was accused of “unsportsmanlike behaviour” had also admitted he called for the trainer even though he was not injured to try to disrupt his opponent’s momentum.Russia’s Daniil Medvedev was slapped with a $14,500 fine after a series of disputes with umpire Mariana Alves during his five-set loss to Ruben Bemelmans in the second round.

Medvedev ended the match by throwing coins in the direction of umpire’s chair although he insisted the bizarre gesture was not meant to imply that the official was corrupt.

Meanwhile, the injuries continued to pile up at Wimbledon when Belgium’s Steve Darcis, who famously knocked out Rafael Nadal four years ago, retired at 3-0 down to David Ferrer.

Darcis needed a medical time-out on his injured groin before quitting one point later.Eight men and one woman have now retired from their singles matches.

Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov was untroubled as the 2014 semi-finalist breezed past Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

In early women’s matches, former US and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded seven, took her career record over fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova to 7-1 with a 6-0, 7-5 win.

Kuznetsova next faces Slovenia’s world number 265th Polona Hercog, who reached the third round at a Slam for the first time since 2010 with a 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-2 win over Varvara Lepchenko of the United States.US 24th seed Coco Vandeweghe eased past Germany’s Tatjana Malek 6-4, 6-2.