Suspense at Wimbly

Wimbledon, Day 4

Match play at the All-England Club had us in suspense today. Wait, I mean lack of play....and we weren't really in suspense - matches were just being suspended. The rain really reigned at Wimbledon today; at least seven matches were suspended or postponed due to inclement weather at the British tennis club grounds.

Rain over Center Court on Day 4 at Wimbledon 2013

Gentlemen's Singles

Novak Djokovic made light work of the USA's Bobby Reynolds, dismissing the thirty-year-old in straight sets - 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-1.

Gasquet, Berdych and Nishikori all made it through, the latter two in straights.

Argentinian Juan-Martin Del Potro made a convincing entry into the third round by defeating US-turned-Canada representative Jesse Levine by a 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 straight sets scoreline.

And of course, what would the day be without some injury claims?

Spaniard Feliciano Lopez got a free ticket into the third when Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu retired after being down a set and a double break.

And then another Frenchman Michael Llodra said that his hamstrings were acting up and forfeited his singles match against Italian Andreas Seppi, but somehow found the strength to play (and win) his doubles match later in the day with compatriot partner Nicolas Mahut. What a quick and convenient recovery.

The suspended matches among the guys were Chardy vs Struff (6-2, 5-7, 1-2) and Dolgopolov vs Giraldo (6-4, 3-0), while Haas vs Wang and Spanish face-off Ferrer vs Bautista Agut were both postponed until tomorrow.

Who has what it takes to stop Nole? No one, methinks.

Ladies' Singles

Defending champion and top seed Serena Williams defeated Caroline Garcia with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. Don't be fooled though - Garcia, at a career-high ranking of 99, was very impressive in the wee stages of the first set, and it was only Williams's smashing serve and mental refusal to lose that settled things back to normal before it was too late.

Other Grand Slam winners who earned their spots in the third round are Li Na (French Open, 2011) who defeated Simona Halep 6-2, 1-6, 6-0 - if you're wondering what caused the second set blunder, Li admits that she lost concentration at the tail of the first set (post-match interview here, very interesting to watch) - and Sam Stosur (US Open, 2011) who beat Olga Puchkova by a 6-2, 6-2 tally.

Aggie Radwanska, Roberta Vinci and Madison Keys are all in, as well (full results).

Suspended matches were as follows:

• L. Robson vs M. Duque-Marino
• A. Kerber vs K. Kanepi
• U. Radwanska vs. A. Riske

Serena, perfectionist in her ways, really cleaned up her act to get the win.

Remember that you can watch live matches at the link here and, of course, do come back here to the Breathe Tennis blog for more tennis news.

Breathe tennis!!