Federer, Serena highlight Centre Court play on Day 5

Play has resumed on the outside courts at Wimbledon after a rain delay of almost two hours.

“I’m just glad I don’t have to play her in the fourth round, as I do at every Grand Slam”, Serena said.

In the men’s tournament, ninth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia completed his match by beating Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Play on Centre Court, which has a retractable roof, has not yet started.

But as of Friday evening, there were still second-rounders in singles that had not concluded – one men’s match, and three women’s.

Former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova tweeted “it stinks” when she learnt of the scheduling move.

Novak Djokovic is in trouble at Wimbledon, losing the first two sets to Sam Querrey. Their match on No. 1 Court was interrupted by rain, as well, and then suspended for the night.

The last two games saw the Grand Slam champion regain her momentum.

This time will be no different: Tournament officials fined her $10,000 (£7,500) for smashing and flinging the racket, reports The Washington Post.

And then there is Venus Williams.

Awaiting Williams in the third round is German Annika Beck in what will be their first meeting.

World No. 1 Serena Williams rallied to reach the third round on Friday at Wimbledon, taking out her early frustration by tossing a racket that skidded into the lap of a cameraman.

But if Evans harboured hopes of going deeper into the tournament, it was not long before the 17-time major champion pulled the plug on his dreams on a floodlit Centre Court. By the end of the match, Kasatkina had more winners and Williams had largely won by putting enough balls between the lines to ride the youngster’s nerves to victory. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever played a 10-8 set, so that was pretty intense”. They replayed the point, and McHale won it to stay in the set.

Serena and Venus Williams came through tough battles on Friday to maintain their challenge at a wet and windy Wimbledon.

The match on No. 1 Court was delayed four times by rain, including once with Williams holding a match point at 7-6 in the third set. That is because there have been interruptions by rain on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Because of all the wet weather this week, the All England Club said matches will be played on the middle Sunday for only the fourth time in Wimbledons 139-year history. Friday was the third day of significant rain delays. But the 36-year-old, the oldest woman in this year’s main draw, was teetering on the brink of an embarrassing second round exit when world number 115 Sakkari levelled at one-set all. Serena was up against Christina McHale who had taken a set off her in Miami and pushed her to a tiebreak in Rome. Kasatkina took the second 6-4.

Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, was making his return to the lawn of the All England Club after a two-year absence.

Despite all that went on in the siblings’ matches — they overlapped, so their mother, Oracene Price, hustled from No. 1 Court, where she saw Venus win, across the way to catch the end of Serena’s victory — the most shocking development Friday was what was going on in Novak Djokovic’s third-rounder against 28th-seeded Sam Querrey of the US before it was suspended because of showers in the evening. Del Porto reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2013.

A short one, fortunately, as half an hour later the players were back on court again.

Organizers are already behind schedule because of rain this week, with several second round matches being played along with third round matches.

“My hands (are) shaking”, Del Potro said after walking off Centre Court to a loud ovation. Bacsinszky had been trailing 1-0 in the third set, but won all six games played on Saturday.

McHale went on to win the game and force a tiebreak in which a rattled Williams made a string of errors, including two double faults, before burying a forehand into the net to lose the set.

Kasatkina was just a few weeks old when Williams first played at Wimbledon in 1997 and it was the older woman who held her nerve to the last.

Weather permitting, five-time victor Venus Williams and two-time defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic will be playing on Court No. 1.