TENNIS in DEPTH.

Both men offered few breaking opportunities on serve, forcing the first two sets to tie-breaks won by Lopez, ranked 44 in the world. Eighth seed Roddick’s 16 unforced errors proved crucial as Lopez broke his serve in the third set. And he held on for his first victory in eight attempts against Roddick.

“It was a great win for me, I have never beaten Andy,” an estatic Lopez told BBC Sport. ”Even leading two-sets to love I knew that he would still be a great fighter as he is such a great player. ”It’s a very important win. I was a little nervous towards the end as it’s always difficult to close out a match.” Two-time quarter-finalist Lopez will play either France’s ninth seed Gael Monfils or Poland’s Lukasz Kubot in the last 16.

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Wozniacki looked every inch a world number one as she dismissed Razzano in an hour and 11 minutes, cruising to a 6-1 6-3 win. She made just one unforced error in a wonderful display of hitting, most notably on her backhand which kept Razzano pinned behind the baseline, often scrambling to recover the ball. Despite the recent trend of the top-ranked woman failing to deliver in grand slams, Wozniacki insists she is putting herself under no extra pressure to validate her position as the game’s leading lady. ”I think I deserve to be where I am,” she said. ”I’ve won so many tournaments, five already this year. I’m playing good tennis, I’m young, I’m competitive. My time will come. ”Obviously you want to win them, but everybody else wants to be number one. Right now I have one of those two and I want to try to keep it as long as possible. I’m going to try to fight to win a grand slam as well.” Wozniacki will now play 27th seed Jarmila Gajdosova in the next round.

Laura Robson bowed out of Wimbledon – but only after giving former champion and this year’s title favourite Maria Sharapova a scare on Court One. Robson, 17, made the perfect start and raced into a 4-1 lead but Sharapova broke back to draw level before taking the set into a tie-break. Sharapova, who was Robson’s age when she won the title here in 2004, then had to come from a mini-break down to claim the opening set. The Russian stepped up a gear in the second set and opened a 5-1 lead but Robson showed real heart to keep battling and broke Sharapova’s serve to stay in the match. Eventually, Sharapova, the three-time grand slam champion, prevailed 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 and she will now face Klara Zakopalova.

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Li Na served for the match twice in the final set Thursday but was broken each time. She had won 14 of her previous 15 Grand Slam matches in 2011, reaching the final at the Australian Open, then becoming China’s first major singles champion at Roland Garros. But Lisicki has now won 12 of her last 13 matches on grass courts, including reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2009 and winning a tuneup tournament in Birmingham this month. She missed five months last season with a left ankle injury, and she fell out of the top 200 in the rankings. Lisicki is now back up to 62nd.

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Djokovic, who entered Wimbledon with a 41-1 match streak, looked in imperious form when he hammered Jeremy Chardy in the first round and started off in rampant fashion today, winning the first five games.

Anderson broke the Australian Open champion in the second set but he recovered to clinch the set before easing home to victory despite a late wobble in the third. After his thrashing of Chardy, the big crowd assembled on Court One were expecting a repeat performance from Djokovic and they were not disappointed early on. The Australian Open champion revelled in his first-round win and punched the air with joy after overcoming Anderson in two second-set rallies which caused several gasps among the packed crowd.

“It’s just me. That’s my character. I’m very emotional,” Djokovic said. ”Obviously I’m learning over the years how to control my emotions. ”I always try to go with the brighter side, try to put aside the expectations and pressure because it’s always there. If you’re a top player, it’s always there.”

Marcos Baghdatis is the man standing in Djokovic’s way in round three. The 32nd seed from Cyprus beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.

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The American would have plummeted from 25th to 311th in the world rankings if she lost to Romanian teenager Simona Halep, relinquishing almost all the points she earned for her triumph in London last year. And when the opening set went to 19-year-old Halep, the four-time champion was in trouble. But Williams had scraped her way past France’s Aravane Rezai in a deciding set in the opening round, leading to a flood of tears, and had another comeback in store which allowed her to deny Halep and win 3-6 6-2 6-1. If Williams was looking to be tested in the early rounds in preparation for the more accomplished opponents she would expect to meet in the second week, her wishes have been granted. The more sets she plays the more she might look capable of winning a third successive Wimbledon title, which no female player has managed since Steffi Graf dominated from 1991 to 1993.

But Williams was not convincing on Thursday, and after her 49-week absence from the tour – caused by a foot injury and a blood clot – it would rank as perhaps her greatest achievement should she triumph in the final on Saturday week.

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Francesca Schiavone advanced into the third round of the women’s draw following a 7-5 6-3 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The 2010 French Open champion hit 25 winners but will need to improve her unforced errors count of 19 when she plays Austria’s Tamira Paszek. Former world number one Ana Ivanovic also progressed after a 6-3 6-0 win over Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou.

But 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova lost to fellow Russian Nadia Petrova. Former world number three Petrova registered a 6-3 6-3 victory on Court 17, taking advantage of Pavlyuchenkova’s 24 unforced errors.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 12th seed, demolished Romanian opponent Alexandra Dulgheru 6-0 6-2, while 16th seed Julia Goerges of Germany overcame a tight first-set tie-break to beat France’s Mathilde Johansson 7-6 (12-10) 6-2.

Belgium’s 19th seed Carolina Wickmayer needed three sets to defeat Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili 3-6 6-4 6-2 but Slovakia’s 24th seed Dominika Cibulkova enjoyed a no-nonsense victory with a 6-1 6-2 win over Slovenia’s Polona Hercog.

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Robson, a former junior champion at the All England Club, secured her maiden victory in a Grand Slam event at she saw off world No.77 Angelique Kerber 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3. The 17-year-old will now face 2004 champion Sharapova on Court One on Thursday, with Robson determined to make the most of the occasion. ”I’m really looking forward to playing Sharapova. I’m really happy to beat Kerber, but today is really important,” said Robson, who is ranked as Britain’s No.7. ”I’m just really hoping that I play my best. I’m going to be on Court One playing against Sharapova and I think that’s pretty special. ”I don’t know if I can beat her. You’ve got to be confident going into these matches anyway, otherwise what’s the point of going out there? ”I know I can play really well. I just have to wait and see. Hopefully I can play as well as I know I can.”

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Vera Zvonareva survived a scrappy second set to slip into the third round of Wimbledon with a 6-1 7-6 win over fellow Russian Elena Vesnina. The second seed, runner-up to Serena Williams last year, struggled with her serve in the second set, trading breaks with Vesnina before clinching victory. Zvonareva will next face surprise 2010 semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova.

Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka was in ruthless form as she swept aside Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-0 6-3.

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