Full round-up from round two of the men's singles at Wimbledon
Wednesday 3 July 2019 21:05, UK
Novak Djokovic continued his quest for a fifth Wimbledon title with a comprehensive straight-sets victory against Denis Kudla.
The defending champion arrived on Centre Court later than anticipated, following Kyle Edmund's five-set defeat against Fernando Verdasco, and he made light work of his American opponent to seal a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win in one hour and 33 minutes.
Djokovic won the opening five games of the match against the world No 111 as he highlighted the gulf in class, before a valiant Kudla raised his game to make for a more competitive and entertaining encounter.
The 15-time Grand Slam champion was broken twice but made 33 winners and served aces as he underlined his favourite tag to set up a meeting with 22-year-old Wimbledon debutant Hubert Hurkacz.
In stark contrast to Djokovic's swift work, Stan Wawrinka spent three hours and 13 minutes on court against Reilly Opelka as the three-time Grand Slam champion lost 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 8-6.
Opelka was another player who was making his debut at the championships while Wawrinka has been ever-present since 2005 and was on court for the 15th consecutive year at Wimbledon.
At 6ft 11in, Opelka's serve is a considerable weapon and on the Court 2 he put down 23 aces and finished with 71 per cent of his first serves going in.
The loss of Wawrinka from the draw means that the top half continues to see seeded players fall after Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev were knocked out in the first round on Monday.
"I had some chances but I start a little bit slow. I was a bit hesitating, not really moving well enough," said Wawrinka.
"At the end he went for it. He went bigger than me and he deserved to win."
Opelka's movement into the third round will see him meet another player with a monster serve, Milos Raonic.
The 2016 runner-up set up that meeting after prevailing against Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-6 (7-1) 7-5 7-6 (7-4) on No 3 Court.
The Canadian, who was broken only once in the match, needed treatment on his left ankle and Achilles when trailing 5-4 in the third but finished off by converting his first match point in the tie-break.
Last year's beaten finalist Kevin Anderson, seeded fourth, missed the entire clay-court season with an elbow injury but in just his second tournament back the South African recorded a convincing 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-4 victory.
The hero of Queen's Club Feliciano Lopez found the task of the tenth seed Karen Khachanov too much to handle on No 1 Court.
The 37 year-old certainly had his opportunities but converted only two of the 10 break points that he created. Khachanov came through from a set down to make sure that for a third year in succession, he has a place in the third round.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, who reached the semi-finals at Queen's, defeated French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2 to reach the third round in just his second main draw appearance at a Grand Slam.
