Wimbledon PIX: Federer, Nadal advance; Kerber knocked out

IMAGES from the matches played during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, at Wimbledon, in London on Thursday

Nadal downs Kyrgios in emotion-filled tie

World No 2 Rafael Nadal quelled Australian Nick Kyrgios's challenge to advance to the third round at the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday.

Nadal won the centre court showdown 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7-5), 7-6(7-3) in just over 3 hours in an emotion-filled match.

It was Nadal's 50th win at Wimbledon.

Federer crushes Clarke to reach third round

Roger Federer dashed home hopes of an outlandish upset at Wimbledon by easing into the third round with a 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2 win over Britain's world number 169 Jay Clarke on Thursday to reach the third round.

Federer had never lost a Grand Slam match to somebody as low as Clarke in the rankings and, despite the Briton putting up a brave fight in the second set, the huge gulf in class ensured the Swiss never had to get out of second gear.

Chasing a ninth Wimbledon title, Federer blasted out of the blocks, winning the opening set in double quick time, before Clarke got a foothold in the contest, holding serve throughout the second set to force a tiebreak.

The home crowd began to sense the beginnings of an upset when Clarke secured a mini-break on the Federer serve, but it was a fleeting advantage, with the Swiss taking the set and breaking early in the third.

The 20-year-old Clarke handed Federer matchpoint with a double fault and the 20-times Grand Slam champion wrapped up the contest when the Briton sent a backhand wide.

"I really enjoyed myself. The tank is full. I came here with a lot of confidence, the first few matches haven't been very taxing physically. You try to win your matches regardless of the score, if you win them in straights that's better," Federer said.

"This first week has been going well and I know the opponents in terms of ranking will now get better."

The Swiss will next face either Lucas Pouille or Gregoire Barrere.

Serena survives Fourth of July test from Slovenian student

For the second time in four days a Wimbledon champion called Williams found herself being whipped by high school teenager but in the end it was Serena Williams dishing out the punishment as she stormed to a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 second-round win over Slovenia's Kaja Juvan on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Juvan appeared to have being inspired by 15-year-old Cori Gauff's sensational first-round win over Serena's elder sister Venus, a five-times winner at the All England Club, as she came out swinging to break Serena twice in the opening set.

An ugly smash into the net not only handed Juvan the set but it also left an angry Serena staring at the ball in disgust -- and if looks could kill, the ball would have turned to dust.

But if the Court One fans feared that it might be a case of "Gone on the Fourth of July" for America's most decorated tennis player -- they had obviously not kept tabs on the career of an athlete who is chasing a record equalling 24th Grand Slam title.

The 37-year-old missed easy slam dunk smashes, she belted the ball wide while on break point, and glared down on the net after yet another of her shots got tangled up in bottom of the black mesh.

But despite producing more unforced errors (26) than winners (25), she put on a winning show for her friend Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, to seal a place in the third round against Germany's Julia Goerges.

Kerber suffers shock loss to lucky-loser Davis

Defending champion Angelique Kerber was dumped out of Wimbledon on Thursday as she suffered a stunning 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 second-round defeat by American World No 95 Lauren Davis.

German Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion, raced through the first set before the match turned wildly on its head and Davis, who needed a lucky-loser spot to play in the tournament, lost only three more games.

After taking the second set, the 25-year-old Davis turned the screw on Court Two and wrapped up victory in an hour and 55 minutes when fifth seed Kerber netted.

The American had previously been a top-30 player but had fallen to 252 in the world by the end of 2018, before beginning a rapid rise back up the rankings.

Davis was the more aggressive, out-hitting Kerber with 45 winners to 13, and broke the German's serve eight times in the match to set up a third-round meeting with number 30 seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

The contest had started well for Kerber as she broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set and then again to love in the eighth game to clinch the opener.

Yet after a visit from the trainer, Davis turned the encounter on its head.

After the second set began with three breaks of serve, Davis held to get her nose ahead 3-1 and broke again for a 4-1 lead.

After failing to convert her first two matchpoints at 5-1, Davis made no mistake with the third when a strong return forced Kerber to net.

Stephens, Johnson win on American Independence Day

Sloane Stephens and Steve Johnson got American Independence Day underway by booking their places in the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday.

Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, was off court in less than an hour after romping to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Yafan Wang which took her into round three for the first time since 2016.

Johnson, however, had to toil for almost 3-1/2 hours under a blazing sun before he was able to crawl past Australian 25th seed Alex de Minaur 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Next up for him will be Japan's Kei Nishikori.

The duo are among 11 Americans in action on day four of the championships, with seven-times singles champion Serena Williams headlining the 4th of July billing.

Aussie Barty waltzes into Round 3

Top seed Ash Barty hurried into the Wimbledon third round on Thursday, dispatching Alison van Uytvanck 6-1, 6-3 in 54 minutes on the All England Club's distant show court Two.

Barty is the woman of the moment having just won her first Grand Slam at the French Open but she and former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber were consigned to Court Two for their second-round matches while much lower ranked Britons were scheduled to play on Centre Court.

But the court did not affect the 23-year-old Australian's tennis. She sprayed winners, including two delicious lobs, and did not allow Van Uytvanck into the match until the sixth game of the first set.

Barty took the first set with a backhand that wrong-footed her opponent and wrapped up the match, played in warm sunshine, with a high backhand volley winner.

Van Uytvanck is no slouch on grass. The Belgian reached the last 16 here last year, upsetting defending champion Garbine Muguruza on the way, and she has a powerful swinging serve.

"I had to have my running shoes on," Barty said as she came off court.

"I had to make sure I made a lot of returns."

Kvitova rallies to down Mladenovic and advance

Petra Kvitova's decision to give her shoes an almighty whack with her racket turned out to be a masterstroke as the Czech's legs finally started to move more freely, and she eked out a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kristina Mladenovic at Wimbledon on Thursday.

The sixth seed did not exactly enjoy the most promising of starts -- she was broken in the opening game and fell 5-3 behind when she squandered three break points in the eighth game.

She took out her frustrations on her personalised shoes, giving one of them such a powerful blow with her racket frame that it briefly left her grimacing -- and that proved to be Frenchwoman Mladenovic's undoing.

Two games later, Kvitova saved three set points to level for 5-5 and it was a setback Mladenovic could not recover from.

The 2011 and 2014 champion, who was still sporting a bandage around her left elbow after missing the French Open with an arm injury, was swinging more freely from then on as she won 10 of the last 12 games to book a place in the third round for the first time since 2015.

Kvitova will next face either Poland's Magda Linette or 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova.