Wimbledon Men’s Day 3

Novak Djokovic was out-aced by Thanasi Kokkinakis, but the serving spree was not enough to keep the Serb top seed from the third round at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Djokovic, winner of the last three editions played at the All England Club, earned 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 success in two hours on Centre Court, keeping his record near-spotless against Aussies at the Grand Slams.  

The only one to ever beat him at a major: Lleyton Hewitt at 2006 US Open.

Kokkinakis rained down 11 aces to one for Djokovic, who improved to 24-4 over his career against Australians.

Djokovic has moved into the third round in London for a 13th consecutive year after mastering his latest challenge. He is 34-0 on Centre Court since losing the 2013 final to Andy Murray.

“I started very well, I was very solid from the back,” Djokovic said. “I made him work for every point.

“I moved him around the court and brought variety to my game. The swirling wind made the ball toss tough.

“This was overall a really, really high-quality performance – I’m very pleased.”

Kokkinakis was not pleased with his showing: “It wasn’t great from my end, I wasn’t able to execute.

“He does everything right. It was pretty one-way traffic, it was frustrating – I got chopped today.”

Clay-courting Norwegian Casper Ruud became the highest men’s seed to fall as the No. 3 went down 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 7-4 to Ugo Humbert.

The Frenchman produced 54 winners to 21 for Ruud, losing finalist at Roland Garros to Rafael Nadal. 

The match was delayed for 90 minutes by morning rain, with Humbert at first turning up at the court minus his racquets. 

Steve Johnson of the US, who benefitted in the first round when Grigor Dimitrov had to quit hurt in the second set, defeated British wild card Ryan Peniston 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Injured American Christian Harrison lasted only four games before stopping play to hand German Oscar Otte a 3-1 trip to the third round.

Frances Tiafoe took revenge on his own German opponent, defeating Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3), with the winner hammering 15 aces.