Nadal keen to avoid Djok horror

Rafael Nadal continued his campaign for a first Wimbledon title today, desperate to avoid the sort of upset which saw one of his main rivals, Novak Djokovic, make a shock early exit.

Nadal would already have been wary of facing Ernest Gulbis in the second round, the big-hitting Latvian having reached the quarter-finals of the French Open recently.

The second seed had even more reason for concern after seeing just how easily third seed Djokovic was beaten in straight sets by former world number one Marat Safin on Centre Court yesterday.

Djokovic admitted the mental effort of his superb performances over the last 18 months had finally taken their toll after his shock 6-4 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 defeat, and the 21-year-old revealed he would be taking a well-earned break.

“I’m going to probably stay another week and watch matches,” joked the Australian Open champion. “No, I’m going to go home – home sweet home.

“I’ll rest a little bit, without the racket. I’ll leave the rackets at home and I’ll go somewhere many miles away.”

In fairness to Djokovic, Safin is obviously no mug despite a world ranking of 75 and coming into the championships having recorded back-to-back victories just twice in 2008.

The former US and Australian Open champion – he beat grand slam debutant Djokovic for the loss of just three games in the first round on his way to the title in Melbourne in 2005 – has struggled with injuries and poor form in recent years and admitted he had not looked ahead in the draw.

“You have a second-round match against Djokovic, the guy won the Australian Open, semi-finals of French Open, winning the tournaments left and right, and the last time I won two matches in a row was I don’t remember when. So what do you expect?” said the 28-year-old, who in fact faces Italy’s Andreas Seppi, the 29th seed.

“Of course you are not really in a position to look at anything after the second round. I’ve been fit since November last year, but the results are not coming.

"I’m surprisingly happy that it finally came because I started to get a little bit desperate because I’ve been working really hard week after week, practising and putting myself together.”

There were no such worries for Roger Federer as his bid to win a sixth straight title gathered momentum.

The world number one dispatched Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/3) to take his place in the third round, with what he described as “an excellent performance”.

“It was a tough match,” he added. “He [Soderling] has a good game for grass. I was happy to get the match out of the way.”

In action in the men’s singles on day four was two-time finalist Andy Roddick, the sixth seed facing a potentially tricky clash with Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic.

Tipsarevic is good friends with Djokovic and took a set off him in the Artois Championship recently, and Roddick will need his big serve to be firing on all cylinders to get through.

Eighth seed Richard Gasquet, who came from two sets down to beat Roddick in the quarter-finals last year, was involved in an all-French battle on court two against former semi-finalist Sebastien Grosjean.