Murray in third round; Azarenka shown door

Smooth progress for Djokovic, Venus, Kvitova

Andy Murray obliterated the second obstacle blocking his path to consecutive Wimbledon titles on Wednesday as he ended Blaz Rola's All England Club adventure in brutal fashion.

The home favourite flattened the Slovenian 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 to reach the third round without dropping a set and stretch his winning streak at the All England Club to 15.

Novak Djokovic showed that Wimbledon was no place for a 35-year-old warrior as he beat battle-scarred Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6 (5) in a hugely entertaining contest to reach the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Bidding to become the oldest man to reach the third round at the All  England Club since 2007, Stepanek tried practically every shot known to mankind, and then some, as he tried to topple the top seed.

His lunging forehands drew wild applause, his silky volleys had the purists purring and his crowd-pleasing shot-selection left fans hollering but all Stepanek had to show for his efforts was a bloodied right knee and the memories of a standing ovation. But there was no such fortune for eighth seeded Victoria Azarenka, who lost to Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Veteran American Venus Williams, another player who thrives at the spiritual home of lawn tennis, if not in recent years, battled into the third round with 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 defeat of Japan's Kurumi Nara.

Women's seeds flourished in cool, sunny conditions early on Day Three with world No.2 Li Na untroubled by Austria's Yvonne Meusburger and 2012 runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded four, opening action on Centre Court with an easy win against Australia's Casey Dellacqua.

Results
second round, prefix denotes seedings:

Men 20-Kevin Anderson (Rsa) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) 7-6 (7-0), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt 12-Ernests Gulbis (Lat) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); 3-Andy Murray (Gbr) bt B Rola (Slo) 6-1, 6-1, 6-0; 11-G Dimirov (Bul) bt L Savile (Aus) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; L Mayer (Arg) bt Baghdatis (Cyp) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; 16-F Fognini (Ita) bt T Puetz (Ger) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3; J Chardy (Fra) bt M Matosevic (Aus) 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 7-5; 21-A Dolgopolov(Ukr) bt B Becker (Ger) 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-0), 6-3, 6-4; 6-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Bernard Tomic (Aus) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) bt 7-David Ferrer (Esp) 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; 27-Roberto Bautista (Esp) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; 16-Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt Tim Puetz (Ger) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; 1-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Radek Stepanek (Cze) 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(5-7), 7-6 (7-5).

Women:

4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt Casey Dellacqua (Aus) 6-4, 6-0; 30-Venus Williams (US) bt Kurumi Nara (Jpn) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) bt 32-Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; 2-Li Na (Chn) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Aut) 6-2, 6-2; 6-P Kvitova (Cze) bt M Barthel (Ger) 6-2, 6-0; 22-E Makarova(Rus) bt M Doi (Jpn) 7-5, 6-4; Ana Konjuh (Cro) bt Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Tereza Smitkova (Cze) bt Coco Vandeweghe (US) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); 23-Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Polona Hercog (Slo) 7-6 (9-7), 7-5; Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) bt 8-Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; 6-Petra Kvitova (Cze) beat Mona Barthel (Ger) 6-2, 6-0; Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) bet 8-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.