A couple of leading players in the women's draw have fallen in the second round at Wimbledon.
Second seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia and local hope Emma Raducanu were both beaten.
Anett Kontaveit Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Kontaveit was thumped 6-4 6-0 by big-serving Jule Niemeier, who is making a mark on her first appearance at the Championships.
The 26-year-old Kontaveit could not counter the German's huge groundstrokes and looked progressively more downhearted as she failed to find her range on a sunny No.1 court.
Estonian Kontaveit has talked about suffering fatigue this year following a COVID-19 infection and has not played a match since the French Open last month where she was beaten in the first round.
Raducanu's Wimbledon hopes were crushed on Centre Court by France's Caroline Garcia as the golden girl of British sport suffered a 6-3 6-3 second-round loss.
The 19-year-old, who rocketed to fame with her spellbinding U.S. Open triumph last year, did not play badly but had no answer to Garcia's superior firepower.
Garcia, a former top-10 player, dominated the opening set with her aggressive hitting unsettling the 10th-seeded Raducanu.
She continued blazing away in the second set as Raducanu, despite overwhelming support, fell away.
In the men's draw top seed Novak Djokovic looked every bit the dominant player who has won the last three Wimbledon titles in a commanding 6-1 6-4 6-2 win over Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis to power into the third round.
Novak Djokovic Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 35-year-old, bidding for his seventh Wimbledon title, looked scratchy during his opening win over Kwon Soon-woo but he was back close to his usual lofty standards against the 79th-ranked Kokkinakis.
It was the 23rd straight victory for Djokovic at the grasscourt Grand Slam.
Frenchman Ugo Humbert forgot his rackets but definitely brought his A game as he recovered strongly from a shaky start to beat French Open runner-up Casper Ruud 3-6 6-2 7-5 6-4 in the second round.
It was a deserved win for the 24-year-old, who had lost in the first round at his six previous Grand Slam events, and as world number 112 was a big underdog against the Norwegian who lost to Rafa Nadal in the Roland Garros final three weeks ago.
Humbert turned up on court without any rackets after the start was delayed for over 90 minutes by rain, however someone turned up a few minutes later with three raquets.
-Reuters
