Ferrer Overcomes Bautista’s Test to Reach the Round of 32.

David Ferrer.
David Ferrer.

Fourth seed David Ferrer was forced to dig deep after requiring four sets to reach the third round of Wimbledon.

Ferrer beat fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 to seal a clash with Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Jurgen Melzer ended the run of Roger Federer’s conqueror, Sergiy Stakhovsky, with a 6-2 2-6 7-5 6-3 third-round win.

In the same round, Nicolas Almagro, the highest remaining seed aside from Andy Murray in the Brit’s half of the draw, was beaten by Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz.

Spaniard Almagro, the 15th seed, went down 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-4 to 24th seed Janowicz.

“This is my best result in a Grand Slam. This was the first time I played at Centre Court so I’m so happy,” he told BBC Sport

“The delayed start affected me, I was broken early in the first set. I was nervous, but I was able to come back.”

Rain delays meant a lot of second-round matches were delayed until Friday.

Tommy Haas, the 13th seed from Germany, beat qualifier Jimmy Wang 6-3 6-2 7-5, while 26th seed Dolgopolov advanced by beating unseeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4 7-5 6-3.

Jeremy Chardy became the fifth Frenchman to reach the third round when he defeated unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-2 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) – he will now face top seed Novak Djokovic.