Djokovic advances in straight sets to Wimbledon's third round

LONDON, June 27 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Novak Djokovic sailed through a second-round match in straight sets Thursday at Wimbledon, where rain became an issue late in the day.

With echoes of a first-round loss Tuesday by Rafael Nadal and Wednesday's second-round defeat of defending champion Roger Federer still ringing around the grounds, Djokovic was in control throughout a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-1 decision over Bobby Reynolds.

Djokovic didn't allow Reynolds a break chance and won 84 percent -- 51-of-73 -- points on serve. He had as many aces -- 12 -- as unforced errors.

Reynolds came through the first set without dropping serve but Djokovic won the first five points of the tiebreaker in taking the lead. Djokovic had a pair of break in each of the other two sets to put the match away.

While Djokovic and Reynolds were able to complete their match under the closed roof of Center Court, several other matches were suspended or postponed. That included a battle between 29th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov and Grega Zemlja, who had played more than 3 1/2 hours when play was stopped. Dimitrov is to serve, down 8-9 in the fifth set, when the match resumes.

Top 10 players Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin del Potro and Richard Gasquet advanced to the third round, with only Gasquet losing a set.

Berdych, the No. 7-seed, took out Daniel Brands 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-2 behind 55 winners. Del Potro, seeded eighth, stopped Jesse Levine 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 by winning 72 percent of the points on serve. Gasquet, No. 10 in the seedings, came away with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victor over Go Soeda, converting half of his 18 break opportunities.

Igor Sijsling ousted 17th-seeded Milos Raonic 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), fighting off all four of Raonic's break chances.

Other seeded players advancing Thursday were No. 12 Kei Nishikori, 23rd-seeded Andreas Seppi, No. 27 Kevin Anderson, while unseeded Bernard Tomic, Feliciano Lopez and Ivan Dodig and gained spots in the third round.