Fourth-seeded David Ferrer won an all-Spanish encounter against Roberto Bautista Agut on Friday to reach the third round at Wimbledon for a sixth consecutive year.
Ferrer advanced with a scrappy 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 win in a match originally scheduled for Thursday but pushed back because of rain. He will next face No. 26 Alexandr Dolgopolov.
After losing in the French Open final to Rafael Nadal, Ferrer has struggled to switch from clay to grass. As the defending champion he lost in the first round at Rosmalen in his warmup tournament for Wimbledon and then was taken to four sets in his first-round match here.
Ferrer said "I feel better than in the first day and last week. I’m improving my game on these courts."
Ferrer’s best result at Wimbledon was reaching the quarterfinals last year.
Dimitrov loses 5-setter
Grigor Dimitrov, considered one of the rising stars in tennis, was eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon on Friday in a five-set, rain-delayed match that lasted more than four hours over two days.
The Bulgarian fell to 55th-ranked Slovenian Grega Zemlja 3-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 11-9.
Zemlja hit a forehand passing shot on his sixth match point to become the first Slovenian to reach the third round.
The Dimitrov-Zemlja match had been suspended by rain on Thursday with the Slovenian up 9-8 on serve in the fifth set. Dimitrov had saved two match points up until then.
The start of play was delayed Friday by rain. When the match did resume, Dimitrov lost his footing on the fifth point and tumbled backwards on the wet grass, setting up a match point for Zemlja at 30-40.
Dimitrov walked straight to his courtside chair, telling the umpire the conditions were too dangerous to continue. With light drizzle falling, chair umpire Ali Nili said the match would stop until the rain let up.
Both players sat on their chairs for about 10 minutes before play resumed. Dimitrov came back out facing match point - the third of the contest. He hit a 113 mph second serve that forced a forehand return into the net.
Dimitrov saved two more match points in the same game before holding serve with a forehand winner to make it 9-9. Zemlja saved a break point to hold for 10-9, then broke in the next game to end the match in style with a curving forehand that flew past Dimitrov at the net.
Dimitrov converted just two out of 18 break points in the match, while Zemlja broke twice from 10 chances.
Despite predictions that he could be the next big thing in tennis, the 22-year-old Dimitrov has yet to make a breakthrough on the big stage. His best showing so far in a Grand Slam was a third-round appearance at last month’s French Open.
HAAS enters third round
Meanwhile, Germany’s Tommy Haas beat qualifier Jimmy Wang of Taiwan 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to make the third round.
In women’s play, seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany was ousted in the second round by Estonia’s 46th-ranked Kaia Kanepi, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Kerber is the sixth among the top-10 seeded women ousted so far.
Kerber, who reached the semifinals here last year, blew a 5-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker when she was just two points from victory. Kanepi, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist three years ago, double-faulted twice on match point before converting her third chance with a backhand winner.
Also, Britain’s laura Robson beat 117th-ranked Colombian qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino 6-4, 6-1 under the closed roof on Centre Court to reach the third round here for the first time.
Robson, who won the Wimbledon girls’ title in 2008, has climbed steadily up the rankings and has a good chance of getting into the second week.
Djokovic goes through
World number one Novak Djokovic condemned the United States to their worst Wimbledon men’s performance in over a century as Serena Williams set up a clash of senior citizens against Kimiko Date-Krumm.
Top seed Djokovic breezed past world number 156 Bobby Reynolds, a 30-year-old qualifier, 7-6 (7/2) 6-3 6-1 to reach the third round yesterday.
Reynolds was the last American man standing and his defeat under the Centre Court roof means that the for the first time since 1912 there will not be a male player from his country in the third round.
Djokovic, the 2011 champion, goes on to face either Jeremy Chardy, the French 28th seed, or German qualifier Jan-lennard Struff.
Their match was one of eight left uncompleted as heavy rain brought the first delays of the week.
Djokovic admitted he had been wary of Reynolds after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had both been shocked by opponents outside the top 100.
"It’s a Grand Slam and it’s sports, the top players cannot win all the time," said the Serb.
"All the lower-ranked players have extra motivation and have nothing to lose. So I needed to be extra careful and with the roof closed, it was a little different."
Reynolds, the last of 11 US men who started in the main draw on Monday, believes the American decline is only temporary.
"There are young college players, but I think they have a lot of potential. Maybe, just a couple years hopefully a good one’s coming," he said.