Djokovic crashes out to Safin on Centre Court.
Review of the action on day three at the All England Club
Marat Safin caused the biggest upset of Wimbledon so far with a straight-sets victory over
Novak Djokovic.
Safin, the former world number one, produced an inspired performance to eliminate the third seed, winning 6-4 7-6 6-2 on Centre Court.
Djokovic, widely tipped as a potential successor to
Roger Federer as champion, struggled throughout and closed the match with successive double faults.
Safin's reward is a meeting with the Italian 29th seed
Andreas Seppi, who came through his match against
Florent Serra 6-3 6-7 6-2 6-7 6-4.
Djokovic later admitted he had been second best: "I'm tired mentally, it's been a long season, even though it's only halfway through.
"But physically I wasn't tired, and that was not the explanation why I lost today. He was just better than me on the court."
Safin was understandably thrilled.
"For me to beat Djokovic on Centre Court, especially on this surface, is a great match," the two-time Grand Slam champion said.
"I was still nervous because I have not won this type of match for a long time. I had to concentrate from the beginning and take my opportunities because he is the one under pressure, trying to be number one in the world at the end of the year. For me, nobody expects anything."
Top seed Federer reached the third round with a routine 6-3 6-4 7-6 victory over
Robin Soderling.
The five-time champion was 5-2 down in the third set, but struck back to force a tie-break, which he won to set up a meeting with
Marc Gicquel, who hit back from two sets down to end the run of lucky loser
Ilia Bozoljac.
Federer said: "It was a tough match. He has a good game for grass. I was happy to get the match out of the way. He's challenging on grass and I had to scramble a lot.
"I was quite relieved to get back and win the breaker. I really had to dig deep and concentrate on my own serve. I was relieved to get back and win the breaker. It was a big moment."
Tenth seed
Marcos Baghdatis also won in straight sets, the world number 25 proving too strong for veteran
Thomas Johansson in a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win.
David Ferrer, the fifth seed, was a set down against Russia's
Igor Andreev, but hit back to win 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 on Court One.
The Spaniard faces a tricky test against Croatia's
Mario Ancic, who outlasted
Philipp Petzschner over five sets.
Like Ferrer, 11th seed
Tomas Berdych needed to recover from the loss of the opening set against
Victor Hanescu.
The Czech star bounced back in style, eventually winning through 6-7 7-6 6-1 6-2.
Stanislas Wawrinka secured his passage to the third round as he overcame Argentine
Juan Martin Del Potro in straight sets.
The Swiss 13th seed did not have things all his own way, but eventually wore down his opponent to record a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5 victory on Court 11 in two and a half hours.
Juan Carlos Ferrero is out, though, after retiring injured during the third set of his match against Germany's
Mischa Zverev.
The Spanish 21st seed was trailing 6-4 6-4 2-1 when he called time on his second-round clash because of a leg injury. Zverev will face Wawrinka in round three.
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, won through easily against Spanish claycourter
Albert Montanes.
Hewitt, the 20th seed, will meet
Simone Bolelli in the third round after a 7-6 6-0 6-2 rout.
The gritty Australian said he was determined to fight on despite the pain of a nagging hip injury.
"I've played with pain before," he said. "As long as it doesn't get too much worse, you know, I can handle it.
"I feel it most of the time I'm out there, it's just a matter of blocking it out and not dwelling on it too much."
Bolelli dumped out Chilean 15th seed
Fernando Gonzalez, winning three tie-breaks in a 7-6 7-6 3-6 7-6 success.
Feliciano Lopez cruised into the third round with a 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Croatia's
Roko Karanusic. The 31st seed meets
Bobby Reynolds next.
Finally
Fernando Verdasco, the 22nd seed, defeated
Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-6 6-7 6-1 6-1 to reach the third round.In the women's event top seed
Ana Ivanovic saved two match points before scraping past
Nathalie Dechy.
The French Open champion, who won 6-7 7-6 10-8, was under severe pressure in the 10th game of the second set, saving one match point with a forehand winner before fending off a second with a fortunate net cord.
Dechy continued to fight in a marathon third set, but the Serbian edged it 10-8 after almost three and a half hours on court.
Afterwards she was in no doubt about the turning point - that fortunate net cord.
"Someone upstairs made the ball roll over," she said. "I felt like time stopped for a moment because the ball was in the air for a couple of seconds. I thought the match would be over. After that point, I felt like it was a new match me.''
Ivanovic celebrated her victory by kissing the top of the net at the conclusion of a contest which fell just 21 minutes short of the all-time record for the length of a women's singles match at the championships.
She added: "I went over to kiss the net because I felt so lucky. If it wasn't for that net, I'd be booking my flight home. I felt I had nothing to lose because I felt like I had lost the match already, so I could only win.
"I think I used up a lot of luck today. I kind of felt bad for the net call. But that's life and that's tennis. I think today what helped me was fighting spirit. To get through as a learning experience made me feel good.''
Briton
Elena Baltacha could not make it past the second round though, bowing out to China's
Jie Zheng in straight sets, 6-2 7-5.
Zheng made much the faster start to the match and stormed into a 4-0 lead in the first set with two breaks before closing it out with few problems.
The second proved a much tighter affair and Baltacha served for the chance to take the contest into a deciding set at 5-4.
However, Zheng broke back and, having held her serve, wrapped up the match with another break, secured when Baltacha put a forehand wide.
Fifth seed
Elena Dementieva came through her first-round match against
Maria Elena Camerin, which was delayed in the fading light on Tuesday night.
The Russian won 6-3 6-7 6-3 to earn a second-round tie against
Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.
Svetlana Kuznetsova booked her place in the third round with a 6-2 6-3 victory over
Kateryna Bondarenko in a match lasting just over an hour on Centre Court.
The fourth seed now meets
Barbara Zahlovova Strycova, who progressed when Kateryna's sister
Alona Bondarenko quit when trailing 6-3 3-0.
Eighth seed
Anna Chakvetadze strolled into the last 32 with a 6-4 6-2 demolition of Romania's
Edina Gallovits.
The Russian struggled against Stephanie Dubois in her opening match, but was much more in control as she beat Gallovits to advance to a meeting with
Evgeniya Rodina, a 6-1 7-6 winner over
Elena Vesnina.
Marion Bartoli continues to show a liking for the Wimbledon grass - the French 11th seed was a straight-sets winner over
Tatiana Perebiynis of Ukraine.
Last year's beaten finalist now faces
Bethanie Mattek - who was also a straight-sets winner over
Vera Dushevina - in round three and remains on course for a possible clash with
Serena Williams in the last 16.
Williams was sent out to play her match against
Urszula Radwanska on Court Two - the so-called graveyard of champions. She admitted afterwards she wasn't happy about that but she emerged a straight-sets winner.
The number six seed, a two-time champion, won 6-4 6-4 and now faces an intriguing match against 2006 champion
Amelie Mauresmo, who came back to beat
Virginia Ruano-Pascual 4-6 6-1 6-1.
Urszula's older sister
Agnieszka Radwanska, the 14th seed, beat
Marta Domachowska 6-1 6-3 to march into the last 32.
Nicole Vaidisova, the 18th seed, overcame a major wobble in her clash with Australian
Samantha Stosur to book a place in the third round.
The Czech cruised through the first set 6-2, but then lost nine straight games to find herself 0-3 down in the deciding set. She regrouped admirably, though, and eventually served out to record a 6-2 0-6 6-4 victory.
Meanwhule, Hungarian 15th seed
Agnes Szavay needed to fight back from a set down before securing a 5-7 7-5 6-2 win over
Monica Niculescu of Romania.
