Wimbledon: Aryna Sabalenka thumps Marie Bouzkova to reach third round

LONDON: World number one Aryna Sabalenka defeated Czech Marie Bouzkova 7-6(4), 6-4 in a hard-fought battle here at Centre Court to storm into the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Top seed Sabalenka was trying to close the first set in a hurry, but Bouzkova had some other plans, forcing a tie break.

The three-time Grand Slam winner, who is bidding for her first Wimbledon title with several seeds out of the tournament early, led the tiebreak after a couple of errors from Bouzkova and wrapped up the set with a forehand winner.

An inappropriate error at the net by Bouzkova in the fifth game provided a chance to Sabalenka to take control of the second set, and there was no looking back from there with the twice semi-finalist holding firm to close out the win.

Meanwhile, Britain's Cameron Norrie stunned American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe, beating him 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round.

Tiafoe started the match with a first-set victory, but everything changed at the end of the second.

Norrie at one stage went down 0-40 when serving at 4-4. But he rallied and broke in the next game with a superb backhand winner to clinch the set.

Norrie, who defeated the top-20 player at Wimbledon for the first time, showed great energy in the third set, totally dominating Tiafoe, who began to fade.

Norrie broke serve for a 4-3 lead in the fourth after claiming second. Tiafoe made a comeback, but Norrie was good enough to pounce on the American's serve before making it to the third round of Wimbledon for the fourth time with a victory.