Alexander Zverev, Ash Barty cruise into third round of Wimbledon Championships

Svitolina overpowered by Linette, Krejcikova extends winning streak, Monfils out

LONDON: World No. 6 Alexander Zverev defeated American Tennys Sandgren 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes to advance to the third round of Wimbledon Championships on Thursday. However, 13th seed Gael Monfils fell to Spanish Pedro Martinez in four sets.

Zverev, who lost in the second round of Halle Open, hammered 13 aces and committed only two double faults. Tennys hit eight aces and committed as many as six double faults.

The 24-year-old German, who is yet to win a Grand Slam title, converted five of the 10 break points.

Martinez surprised 13th seed Frenchman Monfils 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) to advance to the third round. Though Monfils's game was power-packed as he fired 21 aces as against six from Martinez and also won more on first serve, he still failed.

Seventh seed Matteo Berrettini scored a hard fought 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Botic Van de Zandschulp to advance to third round.

The 17th seed Cristian Garin of Chile reached the third round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career after he overcame Australian Marc Polmans 7-6(3), 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5) in four sets.

Top-ranked Ash Barty advanced to the third round in women's draw depleted of other top contenders by beating Anna Blinkova 6-4, 6-3. Barty avoided an exit by overcoming an uncharacteristically unreliable serve. She committed nine double-faults, including three in the first game, and was broken three times. But she also hit 33 winners to 12 for Blinkova.

Third-seeded Elina Svitolina became the latest upset victim in the Wimbledon women's draw when she lost in the second round on Thursday to Magda Linette of Poland 6-3, 6-4.

Eight of the top 11 players in the WTA rankings are out of the tournament due to defeat, withdrawal or injury.

Linette had 28 winners to just eight for Svitolina, a semifinalist at Wimbledon, two years ago. Linette, ranked 44th, had never before beaten a top-15 player in a completed match.

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova extended her winning streak to 14 matches by beating Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4. Krejcikova seeks to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back. A former Wimbledon doubles champion, Krejcikova is making her tournament debut in the singles draw.

American Shelby Rogers matched her best Wimbledon result by reaching the third round when she beat No. 15 Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-4.

No. 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova swept past Kristyna Pliskova 6-3, 6-3. No. 19 Karolina Muchova and No. 30 Paula Badosa also advanced.

Later on Wednesday, home favourite Andy Murray won a marathon five-setter 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 against German Oscar Otte to reach the third round.

The former world No. 1 spent three-and-a-half hours to see off 24th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round on Monday and needed to fight 20 minutes longer on Wednesday against Otte, who played at the grass-court Grand Slam for the first time. Agencies

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