TENNIS in DEPTH.

Novak Djokovic overcame the brutal serve of Taylor Dent to ensure a welcome early conclusion to the second match of his Wimbledon campaign.

The Serbian, whose first-round match on Monday broke the record for the tournament’s latest finish, edged a tight first set that saw Dent’s power amaze the Centre Court crowd before striding clear to secure a 7-6 6-1 6-4 triumph.

Djokovic must have balked when viewing an order of play that again put him last on the show arena, after his five-set clash against Olivier Rochus ended under the closed roof at 10.58pm following almost four hours of action.

But his subtle groundstrokes came to the fore to allow the keen football fan to end his contest in less than two hours – 20 minutes before his country kicked off their decisive World Cup group game against Australia.

Ilija Bozoljac, a qualifier from Serbia ranked 152nd in the world, has given himself the nickname of ‘Bozo’ but he was in no mood for frivolity as he pushed the Swiss ace all the way in an absorbing, serve-dominated second-round match on Court One.

Federer, relegated from Centre Court for the first time for three years, triumphed 6-3 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 7-6 (7/5) and his serve was not broken throughout but it was his plucky opponent who earned most of the plaudits.

The big-serving Bozoljac hit 31 aces and 102 winners, compared to 69 by the champion, but also produced 37 unforced errors, almost three times as many as the more consistent Federer.

Andy Roddick admitted he was forced to serve and volley just to contain Michael Llodra in their tight second-round Wimbledon showdown.

Roddick recovered from losing the first set in convincing fashion to triumph 4-6 6-4 6-1 7-6 (7-2) on Centre Court, the setting for his epic defeat by Roger Federer in last year’s final.

The American fifth seed failed to win a point when being broken in the fifth game, describing Llodra’s performance as “flawless”.

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