NOVAK Djokovic, the World No 1, brought the curtain down on Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen's Wimbledon career with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory on Centre Court.
The Serb embraced the 33-year-old Finn at the net, who has said he will retire at the end of 2015, after this straight sets defeat and now faces Bernard Tomic, the Australian No 27 seed who was a 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (5) winner against Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France on what was the hottest day ever recorded at Wimbledon. Australians seemed to profit in these sweltering conditions, with Nick Kyrgios running out a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 winner against Juan Monaco of Australia.
For the second round running, though, the 19-year-old from Canberra engaged himself in a war with the umpire. Having denied he called his first round umpire "dirty scum" yesterday he went off chastising an official who thought he was top dog.
Bowing out far more gracefully was Liam Broady, the bearded 21-year-old from Stockport who had recorded his first Grand Slam win on Monday. He went down 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-1 to the talented David Goffin of Belgium, who has quietly risen to No 15 in the world.
In what was generally a good day for the seeds, the Belgian was joined in the third round by Milos Raonic, the Canadian running out a 6-0, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) winner against another veteran, Tommy Haas of Germany. Last year's semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov marches on, a 7-6 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (2) winner against Stevie Johnson of the USA, but No 5 seed Kei Nishikori, last year's US Open runner up was a shock withdrawal with a calf injury. John Isner, five years on from his marathon match with Nicolas Mahut, also moves into the third round with victory against Australia's Matthew Ebden.
Maria Sharapova, the No 4 seed in the women's competition, was a 6-3, 6-1 victor against Richel Hogenkamp. Sam Stosur and Madison Keys were other seeds marching on in the ladies singles yesterday.
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