A rain delay was not enough to derail fourth seed Roger Federer from advancing into the third round of Wimbledon, with victory over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
The seven-time champion came up with 25 aces, 44 winners and four unforced errors to seal a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win over the world number 103.
The Swiss number two led 6-3, 4-4 when the rain started falling, forcing organisers to roll out the roof across Centre Court.
Federer will play either 30th seed Marcel Granollers of Spain or Santiago Giraldo of Colombia for a place in the last 16.
“It’s only been my second match, and it was totally different to the first one, a big leftie coming to the net,” said the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
“It was a serving contest and I am happy I made it because it was tough with the rain delay. It’s nice to make aces, good for the confidence but I have got to keep working hard to keep the consistency.”
On winning quickly, Federer added: “I don’t take much time, I don’t see any point whatsoever in taking more than 10 seconds between points. I think it’s very important for the spectators to keep it moving along.”
Elsewhere, Federer’s companion Stanislas Wawrinka claimed his first back-to-back wins since 2009 at the All England Club. The fifth seed dispelled Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu hopes 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours 42 minutes to reach the third round.
There were also wins for eighth seed Milos Raonic and 10th seed Kei Nishikori.
Canadian Raonic beat American world number 77 Jack Sock 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Japan’s Nishikori saw off American qualifier Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
The surprise match of Day four was between 19-year-old star of the future Nick Kyrgios of Australia and 13th seed Richard Gasquet of France.
Ranked 144th in the world, Kyrgios, after losing the first two sets fought back to save nine match points – a record for the men’s draw – and defeat Gasquet 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-5, 10-8 in match that lasted three hours and 53 minutes.
“I was nervous but I knew if I started playing my own game I had my chance,” said the youngest player in the men’s draw.
And Gael Monfils lost in five sets to 20-year-old Czech Jiri Vesely.
Jo Wilfried-Tsonga (seeded 14th) wrapped up victory over American Sam Querrey, going through 14-12 in the final set after play had been suspended on Wednesday with the players tied at 9-9.
Tsonga eventually sealed a 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 14-12 win and will play Jimmy Wang from Taipei on Friday.
