Nishikori advances to 3rd round at Wimbledon

Play on the outside courts on Day 3 at Wimbledon – scheduled to start at 11:30 – has been delayed by rain.

“He’s one of the best players to ever play the sport but I have to put that to the back of my mind”.

With play starting earlier on the outside courts and the rain holding off, Williams was among nine American players winning first- or second-round matches.

“To have 30 Grand Slam wins in a row is a stat I am proud of”.

British player Dan Evans made it to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time, beating 30th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-1.

Djokovic lost the first two sets 7-6 (6), 6-1 on Friday before rain suspended play on No. 1 Court.

Federer won the first seven games and was always in control. But Querrey won the next three before Djokovic held serve to take the set.

Serena Williams and Viktor Troicki each have been fined $10,000 at Wimbledon for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Cepelova has equaled her best showing at a Grand Slam tournament by getting to the third round.

The No. 1-seeded Williams’ fine was from her second-round victory on Friday. She won the first point and leads Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 15-0.

Troicki, a Serb seeded 25th, was punished for his tirade against the chair umpire at the end of a five-set loss on Thursday.

Among the women, French Open champion and No. 2 Garbine Muguruza is set to play on Court 1 against Jama Cepelova.

The possibility of play on Wimbledon’s middle Sunday for the first time since 2004 became more likely on Friday as rain meant there was barely any play by 2pm.

Cepelova, Slovakia’s No. 5 female player, had to win three matches in qualifying to make it into the main draw.

Wimbledon would only reluctantly announce play for the middle Sunday, traditionally a rest day, which would call for a major logistical effort.

It would mean the prospect of another “People’s Sunday”, with tickets for all courts to be available to the public.

Play was halted on all courts at Wimbledon during the latest delay, even on Centre Court, because the retractable roof was not closed during the match between Williams’ sister Serena and Christina McHale. At Wimbledon previous year, she knocked off third-seeded Simona Halep in the first round. She beat Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 3-6, 7-6 (6), 8-6. Kasatkina took the second 6-4. Resuming at 2-1 in the fourth set, he beat Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

In 2004, Wednesday and Saturday of the opening week were lost to wet weather, prompting the announcement at 3.30pm on Saturday that matches would be played on Sunday. They included Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori against France’s Julien Benneteau and former US Open champion Marin Cilic’s clash with Sergiy Stakhovsky. On the third match point, the 103rd-ranked Konjuh stroked a forehand that hit the top of the net tape, popped up and fell back onto her side of the net. In 1938, he completed the only true Grand Slam other than Laver’s pair.

Andy Murray aims to join Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the third round as Wimbledon scrambles to clear a backlog of matches caused by rain delays.