London: Defending champion Roger Federer took his streak of consecutive sets won at Wimbledon to 26 on Wednesday, reaching the third round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko.
Top seed Federer, the eight-time champion, goes on to face either 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic of Croatia or Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
Federer’s longest streak of sets won at Wimbledon was 34 between the third round in 2005 to the 2006 final.
On Wednesday, the 36-year-old Swiss star fired 16 aces and 48 winners past Lacko, the world number 73.
Novak Djokovic began his Wimbledon campaign in dominating fashion late on Tuesday, shrugging off debutant Tennys Sandgren of the United States 6-3 6-1 6-2 in windy conditions.
“It was one of those days you want to start well and get that first set under your belt and start to feel more comfortable,” 12-times Grand Slam champion Djokovic said.
“I didn’t want to give him an opportunity to come back to the match. I do feel good, it’s quite refreshing and I’m looking forward to see how I progress in this tournament.”
Five-times champion Venus Williams dropped her opening service game and lost the first set before finding her rhythm to beat qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru 4-6 6-0 6-1 in the second round.
The 38-year-old American brought her experience to bear from the second set to seal a comfortable win in her first meeting with the Romanian.
“It’s just credit to her, she played very well and took advantage, you have to at these championships,” Venus said of Dulgheru’s first-set performance.
“It’s not easy to play someone you haven’t played, and I’m sure she’s seen me play a lot, so she was extremely competitive,” she added.
Dulgheru, world number 141, came out fighting in the deciding set, won her serve and had two break points for the second game, only for Venus to save both and hold.
Asked about her improved performance from the second set and whether it confirmed her form as she seeks a second consecutive final and sixth title, she said: “It’s just about winning a match, whether it’s your best [tennis] or not doesn’t matter.”
After an opening two days in which seeds perished in the hot Wimbledon sunshine, there was some respite on Wednesday as several favoured players eased into the third round.
An unprecedented 11 men’s seeds and 10 on the women’s side, including four of the top eight, failed to make it past the first round at the All England Club.
With the number of seeds set to drop from 32 back to 16 at Grand Slams from next year, the rate of attrition will slow.
American Madison Keys, the 10th seed, made sure she was not amongst the casualties when she beat Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum 6-4 6-3.
