Agency :
Novak Djokovic showed signs that he is easing into the old routine at Wimbledon as the seven-times champion sauntered into the third round on Thursday while Barbora Krejcikova also made it through as her title defence continued.
Djokovic struggled past Alexandre Muller on Tuesday when he was hampered by stomach issues.
Two days later, however, he was at his ruthlessly efficient best in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of popular Briton Dan Evans on Centre Court.
The 38-year-old is bidding to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record eight Wimbledon titles and claim an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam crown and, while the talk is of top seed Sinner and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz disputing the final, the Serbian should not be dismissed.
He has reached the last six Wimbledon finals and clearly believes he will still be around on July 13.
“Technically, tactically I knew exactly what I needed to do and I executed perfectly,” Djokovic said after his 99th match win at Wimbledon since making his debut in 2005.
“Sometimes you have these kind of days, where everything goes your way, everything flows and it’s good to be in the shoes and holding a racket on a day like this.”
World number one Jannik Sinner also eased into round three as his pursuit of a first Wimbledon title gathered pace, the Italian thrashing Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
But Britain’s big hope, fourth seed Jack Draper, ran in to an inspired Marin Cilic and joined the exodus of seeds from the men’s draw which now totals 18 in the opening two rounds.
Despite fervent home support on Court One Draper was out-gunned 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 by big-serving Croatian Cilic who produced the kind of tennis that took him to the 2017 final.
