July 1 (UPI) -- Two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal of Spain and Americans Cori "Coco" Gauff and Amanda Anisimova are among the players who have advanced to the third round in London, where play has continued to be interrupted by rainy weather.
Nadal, the No. 2 men's seed, started his second round match early Thursday against Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, but rain stopped play in the fourth set. The match resumed about an hour later and Nadal eventually walked away with a 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory.
"Every day is an opportunity to improve," Nadal said in his on-court interview. "I'm through and it gives me the chance to keep going. I'm very happy for that."
Nadal fired 13 aces, but committed 39 unforced errors in the win. He won 4 of 16 break point opportunities.
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Berankis logged three aces, converted 2 of 5 break point chances and totaled 35 errors. Each player hit 35 winners.
The champion at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010, Nadal will next face Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the third round. The winner of that match will advance to play Richard Gasquet of France or Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the Round of 16.
No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 11 Taylor Fritz of the United States and No. 19 Alex de Minaur of Australia were among the other top players to win their matches in the men's draw on Thursday.
Americans Jenson Brooksby, the men's No. 29 seed, and Brandon Nakashima also advanced to the third round -- while Mackenzie McDonald and Marcos Giron lost their second-round matches. An all-American bout between Jack Sock and Maxime Cressy was not able to finish Thursday and resumed on Friday.
On the women's side, Gauff advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu. The 11th-seeded American needed just 80 minutes to win the second-round match.
Gauff outpaced Buzarnescu 10-1 in aces and 24-11 in winners. She also converted 3 of 4 break points, while Buzarnescu did not earn a break point opportunity.
Gauff will battle Anisimova in a third-round match Saturday in London.
Anisimova, the No. 20 seed, beat fellow American Lauren Davis 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in her second-round match.
No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 4 Paula Badosa of Spain, No. 8 Jessica Pegula of the United States and No. 13 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic were among the other top women's players to advance.
No. 3 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, No. 5 Maria Sakkari of Greece, No. 12 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 15 Angelique Kerber of Germany will be among the top women in action Friday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club.
No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 5 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 9 Cameron Norrie of England and No. 10 Jannik Sinner of Italy also will play third-round matches Friday at Wimbledon.
