Serena Williams racked up her 80th Wimbledon victory on Tuesday, battling to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Amra Sadikovic, ranked at 148 in the world.
Men’s second seed Andy Murray advanced with a routine 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over fellow-Briton Liam Broady while No.4 seed Stan Wawrinka was nowhere near his best while beating Taylor Fritz 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-4.
Later in the day, a lot of action was lost to rain. No.19 seed Bernard Tomic and Fernando Verdasco were locked two sets apiece on No.2 court when the skies opened up. The 10th seeded Tomas Berdych was up two sets to one and a break over Ivan Dodig when their match was called off.
Top seed Serena won her 21st major here 12 months ago. But her hopes of going level with Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 has stalled since. She suffered a US Open semifinal loss to Roberta Vinci followed by defeat in the Australian Open final to Angelique Kerber and then to Garbine Muguruza in the final at Roland Garros.
Wawrinka next plays Juan Martin del Potro who advanced beating Stephane Robert 6-1, 7-5, 6-0. The injury-prone Argentine, playing his first Slam since the 2014 Australian Open, is ranked 165 but made the semifinals here in 2013 while Wawrinka has twice been a quarterfinalist.
Wawrinka met stiff resistance from Fritz before he finally asserted his dominance. The fourth seed was far from his best, with his ground-strokes uncharacteristically erratic, but his fearsome single-handed backhand and experience were enough to see off the 18-year-old making his tournament debut.
Nick Kyrgios, the 15th seed, beat wildcard Radek Stepanek, the oldest man in the draw at 37, in four sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-1.
Kyrgios had a mid-match bust-up with chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani, and even told his own entourage to get out of the court.
Asked whether he felt unfairly treated by Lahyani, Kyrgios said: “I’m not going to answer that question.”
Kyrgios didn't take long to live up to his reputation when he began complaining and audibly groaned “diabolical call” after being told to replay one point in the first set.
Stepanek, the World No.129, is also known as a difficult personality on court, and he apparently recognised a kindred spirit in Kyrgios, offering to help him with his problems this year.
On this evidence, Stepanek’s advice may not have sunk in yet.
Kyrgios overwhelmed Stepanek with a barrage of winners including a brilliant between-the-legs lob. But he was broken when serving for the match and then failed to take a match-point in the third set tie-break, prompting a stream of invective that ended with the Australian telling his entourage to leave.
“I’m serious, get out, get out!” he ranted before being warned for bad language by Lahyani.
But, despite the histrionics, Kyrgios was playing some superb tennis and he went through in emphatic fashion.
