Big guns sail through, Cilic out KEY RESULTS
London, July 5: Former champions Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic battled into the Wimbledon third round on Thursday but third seed and 2017 runnerup Marin Cilic crashed out.
World number one Nadal defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and will next face Australian teenager Alex de Minaur.
Djokovic, the three-time champion, needed treatment on his left thigh on Court Two but still had too many weapons for Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos, winning 6-1, 6-2, 63.
Djokovic has now made the third round for 10 consecutive years and will face either British 21st seed Kyle Edmund or US qualifier Bradley Klahn.
Cilic blew a two-set lead in his 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 loss to Argentina’s Guido Pella, ranked at 82.
Top seed and French Open champion Simona Halep reached the third round with a 7-5, 6-0 win over China’s Zheng Saisai.
World number one Halep, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2014, will face Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan for a place in the last 16.
Nick Kyrgios, seeded 15, unleashed 42 winners to see off Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
On Wednesday, Caroline Wozniacki suffered fresh Wimbledon woe as the world number two suffered a shock 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 defeat against Ekaterina Maka- Men 2nd rd: Guido Pella (ARG) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x3) 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5; Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) bt Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 7-6 (8/6); Novak Djokovic (SRB x12) bt Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; Nick Kyrgios (AUS x15) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-3, 6-4, 7-5; Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Women 2nd rd: Ashleigh Barty (AUS x17) bt Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 6-4, 7-5; Daria Kasatkina (RUS x14) bt Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-2, 6-3; Angelique Kerber (GER x11) bt Claire Liu (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. rova in the second round.
SHARAN, SITAK WIN Divij Sharan and his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak made a winning start as they prevailed over Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri 76(4), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2.