Djokovic steps up bid for Wimbledon history, Sinner cruises

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic both cruised into the men's singles third round at the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during the men's singles second round match between Daniel Evans of Britain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Britain, July 3, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)

Sinner, 23, faced little trouble as he beat Australia's Aleksandar Vukic 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. The Italian needed just one hour and 40 minutes to wrap up the final match on Center Court and set up a third-round clash with Spaniard Pedro Martinez.

Earlier, Djokovic also enjoyed a swift win as the 38-year-old Serbian defeated British player Daniel Evans 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.

"I'm very, very pleased with the performance," said Djokovic, who spent seven more minutes on court than Sinner. "From the very first point of the get-go, I was really sharp. I didn't really want to give Dan a chance to come back to the match. I really tried to pressure him constantly from the back of the court."

"If I play like today, I feel like I have a very good chance against anybody," added the seven-time Wimbledon champion, who has reached six finals in the last six editions of the tournament. He won four titles consecutively before being beaten by Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the past two years.

In the women's singles, Polish star Iga Swiatek came from a set down to beat American Caty McNally 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, while former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan breezed past Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-1.

China's Wang Xinyu, who knocked out 15th seed Karolina Muchova in the first round, lost to Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez 7-5, 7-5 in the second round.