Awesome Nadal continues ominous march forward

RAFAEL NADAL made a winning debut under the Centre Court roof as he booked his place in the third round of Wimbledon with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 win over Ryan Sweeting.

The world number one, given top billing under the lights made it 16 straight wins on the Wimbledon grass, often thrilling the crowd with a fine display of aggressive hitting laced with some top-drawer defence.

Nadal will now face Gilles Muller, whose opponent, the up-and-coming Canadian Milos Raonic, was forced to retire after just five games of his contest.

Big-serving 20-year-old Raonic, fancied by many to at least give Nadal a headache were he to have faced him, landed awkwardly and was forced to leave Court 16 while 3-2 ahead.

Ivan Ljubicic warmed up for his third-round clash with Andy Murray with a straight sets victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Ljubicic prevailed 6-4 6-4 6-2 on Court 7 to equal his previous best performances at Wimbledon, having also reached the third round in 2006 and 2007.

Murray, the fourth seed, defeated Germany’s Tobias Kamke 6-3 6-3 7-5 in the second round.

Meanwhile in the women’s singles, Vera Zvonareva won an all-Russian battle with Elena Vesnina on Court Two to continue her under-the-radar progress.

Last year’s runner-up came through a three-set tussle with American Alison Riske in the first round and did not have yesterday’s match all her own way, despite starting strongly.

She eventually won 6-1 7-6 (7/5) to reach the last 32, but not before her faltering serve was broken four times in the second set.

Zvonareva had been wholly secure on serve in the opening set, but had to come from behind in the next after Vesnina threatened to take the match to a deciding set.

Laura Robson defied the odds to complete a stunning victory over Angelique Kerber and set up a showdown with Wimbledon title favourite Maria Sharapova.

Robson won her first women’s singles match at the All England Club at the third time of asking, beating a player positioned 177 places higher than her in the world rankings to progress into the second round.

The 17-year-old – a junior Wimbledon champion in 2008 – took two hours and eight minutes to overcome 77th-ranked Kerber 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 on Court 16.

Five-time champion Venus Williams drew on her competitive instincts as she hit back from a set down to beat veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in a pulsating second-round clash.

Date-Krumm took the first set on a tie-break but only after Williams had battled from 5-1 down and saved a total of seven set points.

Williams moved a break up early in the second set to draw level before prevailing in a hard-fought third to clinch a 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 8-6 victory.

The American had only played four matches since January after suffering a hip injury at the Australian Open and was relieved to find a way past the 40-year-old from Japan.

Anne Keothavong could only win three games as she crashed out at the hands of Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova.

British number three Keothavong was outclassed by her opponent, who dominated with a series of powerful ground strokes.

Kvitova, broke the Londoner’s serve on three occasions in the first set before coasting to a 6-2 6-1 victory.