Wimbledon: Djokovic breezes past South Africa’s Anderson as Kyrgios, Nishikori, Monfils advance

WORLD number one Novak Djokovic brushed aside Kevin Anderson in straight sets to reach the third round at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The defending champion, chasing his sixth Wimbledon title and record-equalling 20th Grand Slam, won 6-3 6-3 6-3 on a Centre Court surface that continues to cause problems underfoot.
Djokovic will play Andreas Seppi or qualifier Denis Kudla next.

The 34-year-old Serb, who made just six unforced errors, called his performance “almost flawless”.

Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina beat Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck in three sets to reach the second round at Wimbledon, but fifth seed Bianca Andreescu was stunned by Alize Cornet.

World number five Svitolina, a semi-finalist in 2019, won 6-2 3-6 6-3 and will meet Poland’s Magda Linette next.

Earlier, Canadian Andreescu suffered a first-round exit in straight sets.

The 2019 US Open champion was dominated by Alize Cornet, who sealed a 6-2 6-1 win with a stunning lob.

With defending champion Simona Halep and world number two Naomi Osaka absent, and seven-time winner Serena Williams forced to withdraw through injury, Andreescu’s early exit – along with that of Czech 10th seed Petra Kvitova on Monday – further opens up the women’s singles draw.

Svitolina reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in her previous campaign in 2019, where she was beaten by eventual champion Halep.

The 26-year-old recovered from being broken in her opening service game on Court One to take the first set against world number 57 Van Uytvanck.

Nick Kyrgios described his display as “not bad for a part-time player” after knocking out 21st seed Ugo Humbert in the first round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The unseeded Australian, who withdrew from Queen’s with a neck injury earlier in June, won a thrilling five-set battle 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-1 9-7.

Frenchman Umbert, 23, has won three ATP Tour events in the past 18 months.

Norway’s Casper Ruud – seeded 12th – also exited as Australia’s Jordan Thompson bettered a five-set marathon lasting four hours and three minutes.

Thompson will play Japan’s Kei Nishikori after the Wimbledon quarter-finalist of 2018 and 2019 won the 100th Grand Slam match of his career by beating Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in straight sets.

Frenchman Gael Monfils, 34, is 13th seed for the Championships and edged through round one 4-6 6-2 7-6 4-6 6-4 against Australia’s Christopher O’Connell, while Bulgaria’s 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov and Canadian 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also reached round two.

BBC Sport