By Sudipto Ganguly
LONDON (Reuters) – Top seed Novak Djokovic once again looked every bit the dominant player who has won the last three Wimbledon titles as he swept aside Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1 6-4 6-2 on Wednesday to power into the third round of the Championships.
On Monday the 35-year-old, bidding for his fourth Wimbledon title in a row and his seventh overall, had looked scratchy during his opening win against Kwon Soon-woo but he was back close to lofty standards against the 79th-ranked Kokkinakis.
The Australian famously defeated Roger Federer in the second round of the Miami masters at 2018 but there were no signs of another upset during the contest on Centre Court as the 20-time major champion dictated terms from the start.
The Serb, who defeated Kokkinakis in straight sets during their only previous meeting seven years back at Roland Garros, broke his opponent’s delivery early in each of the three sets for a total of five break of serves during the contest.
Djokovic faced a lone break point on his own serve and closed out the victory in two hours on his second match point to set up a third-round meeting against either Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo or Serb compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Mitch Phillips)
