Top seed and defendingWimbledon champion Novak Djokovic completed a late-night victory over American Ryan Harrison at The Championships on Wednesday.
"I thought he played really well. He had his chances in the second set," said Djokovic. "But other than that game I thought I served really well. I was winning comfortably [in] my service games, which is [an] encouraging fact for the next rounds."
Djokovic beat World No. 48 Harrison 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to record his 40th grass-court match win on Centre Court, which ended at 9:52 p.m. local time.
"It was great to be under the roof once again," Djokovic said. "I thought it was a very exciting match to be a part of as a player, and I thought the crowd enjoyed it as well.
"He had a high percentage of first [serves and was] very efficient. It was a little bit of a different condition. Under the roof when you're playing, it's a bit more humid, so you have to adjust your movement."
The Serbian will play the winner of No. 28 seed Radek Stepanek and Germany's Benjamin Becker for a place in the fourth round.
Spain’s Nicolas Almagro, the No. 12 seed, equalled his best performance by reaching the third round.
Almagro beat World No. 168 and French qualifier Guillaume Rufin 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and five minutes. The 26 year old also advanced to the third round in 2009 (l. to Soderling) and 2011 (l. to Youzhny).
It was his 40th match win of the season (40-12 overall), which includes ATP World Tour titles at the Copa Claro in Sao Paulo (d. Volandri) and the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur (d. Baker).
Almagro will next meet French No. 18 seed Richard Gasquet, the 2007 semi-finalist (l. to Federer), who, in fading light, overcame Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes. It was the 50th match win of his career at a Grand Slam championship (50-30 overall).
Tomas Berdych’s conqueror, Latvian Ernests Gulbis, hit 39 aces and 74 winners, but could not beat 21-year-old Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2), 9-7 in three hours and 10 minutes.
Janowicz will next play No. 31 seed Florian Mayer, who beat his German compatriot Philipp Petzschner 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
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