Federer, Djokovic roll into 3rd round

LONDON — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic had to play all three sets at Wimbledon this time.

The former champions both advanced to the third round Thursday, two days after their opening matches ended early when their opponents retired with an injury.

Federer was broken early in his match, but the seventime champion recovered quickly and beat Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (0), 6-3, 6-2. Djokovic, a three-time champion, defeated Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

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.

In his opening two matches at the All England Club, Djokovic has only lost eight games.

“It’s perfect. Exactly what I want,” Djokovic said. “I don’t want to have any five-set matches in there.”

Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, Gael Monfils and David Ferrer also reached the third round. Ferrer advanced when opponent Steve Darcis retired with an injury while trailing 3-0.

One of the favorites in the women’s tournament, thirdseeded Karolina Pliskova, lost on Centre Court. Magdalena Rybarikova beat Pliskova 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the third round for the second time in 10 appearances.

Pliskova entered the tournament with a chance to take over the No. 1 ranking.

“My expectations were a little bit different than to make one round here,” Pliskova said. “You still can play well and you don’t have to win. That’s my case today.”

Top-seeded Angelique Kerber also advanced to the third round. Joining Kerber were No. 7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 9 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 14 seed Garbine Muguruza and No. 24 seed Coco Vandeweghe.

Also, American wild-card entry Bethanie MattekSands injured her right knee during a point and retired from her second-round match against Sorana Cirstea.