Djokovic and Rybakina ease into Wimbledon 3rd round
The Serb continues to rage against the dying of the light and showed why he has identified the grass of Wimbledon as his best chance of adding to his extraordinary tally in a superb all-round performance where he looked as sharp and fit as at any time in his incredible career.
He was never remotely troubled on serve until the final game of the match, while wildcard Evans had to scramble for almost everything on his – saving nine first-set break points before eventually succumbing on the 10th.
Djokovic continued to dominate as Evans, who beat him in their only previous meeting on clay four years ago, saw his tame sliced backhands repeatedly crashed back past him as the sixth seed romped home.
Since losing in the quarter-finals in 2017, Djokovic has reached the last six finals, winning the first four but losing the last two to Carlos Alcaraz, and it would be a brave man to bet against him making it seven in a row on Thursday's evidence.
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov also reached the third round with a 7-5 4-6 7-5 7-5 victory over Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
Former women's champion Elena Rybakina barely needed to shift out of second gear as the 11th seed motored into the third round with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Greek Maria Sakkari.
Rybakina was gifted a break in the opening game when Sakkari produced three successive double faults and the 2022 Wimbledon champion held firm from there to wrap up the opening set with minimum fuss in front of a sparse crowd on Court One.
The 26-year-old dropped her serve in the opening game of the next set but responded immediately to get things back on track and then broke to love for a 3-1 lead, before proceeding to take apart former world number three Sakkari.
A backhand error on match point compounded Sakkari's woes and Rybakina celebrated the victory in typically muted fashion, with either Denmark's 23rd-seeded Clara Tauson or Russian Anna Kalinskaya awaiting her in the next round.
Elsewhere, seventh seed Mirra Andreeva blasted her way into the third round with a 6-1 7-6(4) victory over Italy's Lucia Bronzetti and thanked her coach, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, for making her work hard.
The 18-year-old Russian was the only teenager from six women's starters to have made it through to the second round and she looked sure-footed on Wimbledon's grass, the surface where she hit the headlines aged 16 with a whirlwind race to the fourth round in 2023.
Andreeva will play Hailey Baptiste of the United States, who beat Canada's Victoria Mboko on Thursday, in the third round of the singles on Saturday.
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