London: It was far from convincing, but Barbora Krejcikova kept her Wimbledon defence on track on Thursday with a laboured 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 second-round win over American Caroline Dolehide.
The Czech creaked rather than cruised into the third round, moving past the American in a match as scrappy as a Henman Hill picnic after a seagull attack.
Court Two spectators, many blissfully unaware they were watching the reigning champion, might be forgiven — Krejcikova herself barely looked the part.
A season dogged by back and thigh niggles has left her short of sharpness, and her patchy 4-3 record for the season coming in was on full display in a match strewn with errors.
The 8th seed Iga Swiatek reached the third round by defeating Caty McNally of US 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
Still, the 17th seed did just enough to scrape through to gentle applause and a sterner test ahead: 10th seed Emma Navarro, who won’t be quite so generous.
It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semifinal and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed ‘Baby Federer’ would win a Grand Slam title.
Despite giving away eight years to an opponent who reached his first grasscourt final last month in Mallorca, Dimitrov emerged with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory to prolong his 59th successive Grand Slam appearance, the most of any active player. Agencies
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