It was a good day for the seeds in the doubles competitions. Bjorkman/Ullyett, Bryan/Bryan, Black/Huber and Peschke/Stubbs all progressing, while Anne Keothavong and Melanie South noptched up another British success.

Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, who is making her first Wimbledon singles appearance, could be heading for the big time. She has risen 100 places to 53rd in the world in the past 12 months and has already won one grass court singles title this year.

Serena Wiillams had to do a good deal of running around to get the better of Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 but she also had to give herself a serious talking to in order to calm her nerves on Court 2.

Ana Ivanovic made no attempt to dress up her victory over Nathalie Dechy as an achievement earned through her own brilliance. Instead she acknowledged the outrageous piece of good fortune that swung the game her way

Novak Djokovic may have had his Wimbledon title dreams ruined but he was full of praise for his conqueror, Marat Safin, who was his idol when he was a junior. “I have a lot of respect for him,” he said. ” Maybe that played a key role in the match.”

Marat Safin admitted that his shock straight sets win over third seed Novak Djokovic even came as a surprise to him – because it had been a long time since he had played that well.

Top seed Ana Ivanovic moved into the last 16 by defeating Nathalie Dechy 6-7, 7-6, 10-8 in the finest women’s match of the Championships so far. But she had to endure a close escape, saving two match points in the second set.

Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the third round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko, but her performance was less than inspiring. She notched up 19 unforced errors and struggled with her serve.

Lleyton Hewitt, champion in 2002, overwhelmed Spain’s Albert Montanes 7-6, 6-0, 6-2 to win through to the third round and keep alive the prospect that he will face defending champion Roger Federer in the last 16.

Marat Safin produced the shock of the tournament so far when he knocked-out third seed Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The Serb, many people’s tip to win the title, served 10 double faults as Safin reproduced the form that had once made him the world’s top player.

Forget tennis, fashion is stealing the spotlight at Wimbledon this year with Federer’s cardigan, Serena’s trench coat and Sharapova’s tux outfit sending ripples through the industry.

Nicole Vaidisova battled her demons on the way to beating Sam Stosur 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Despite her game disintegrating mid-match, she was able to seize the opportunity when Stosur’s service faltered in the third set.

Elena Baltacha’s dream of a third round place at Wimbledon for a second time in her career was crushed by Chinese wild card Jie Zheng in straight sets, as she failed to recover from a slow start.