• Wimbledon, Day Three

Imperious Nadal marches on

Rafael Nadal hit just seven unforced errors in a comfortable victory © PA Photos

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Plays of the Day: Day Three
Wimbledon Day Three Gallery
Women's round-up: Venus scrapes through
What They Said

Rafael Nadal stepped up his Wimbledon title defence with an emphatic straight sets victory to march into the third round.

The world No. 1, who is chasing a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles, showed no mercy as he stormed to a 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory over Ryan Sweeting.

Playing under the roof for the first time, Nadal, unbeaten at Wimbledon since 2007, took the opener after a single break of serve. The Spaniard raced through the second set with little opposition, and while Sweeting rallied in the third, he showed little sign of challenging the defending champion.

A superb backhand passing shot set up match point, and Nadal sealed the victory with a simple volley at the net after forcing his opponent out wide. It was a concrete performance from the Spaniard, who made just seven unforced errors as he cruised into the third round.

The man who Nadal beat in the final last year, Tomas Berdych wasted little time in sealing a third-round clash with American Alex Bogomolov Jnr. With the British fans on Court One desperate to see home favourite Andy Murray, the sixth seed duly obliged, racing to a 6-1 6-4 6-2 win over Julien Benneteau in just an hour and 37 minutes.

Fans at the All England Club were denied a highly-anticipated third-round clash between Nadal and the No. 31 seed Milos Raonic after the big-serving Canadian was forced to retire with thigh injury. Nadal will now play Gilles Muller in the third round after Raonic retired early in the first set.

Richard Gasquet also made swift progress into the third round, enjoying a comfortable 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Russia's Igor Kunitsyn, whille tenth seed Mardy Fish beat Denis Istomin 7-6(6) 6-4 6-4.

Eighth seed Andy Roddick looked in good form as he dumped out Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4 6-3 6-4. Elsewhere, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro's progress has been held up because of failing light. He will resume his match against Olivier Rochus on Thursday, with Rochus one set to the good.

Ninth seed Gael Monfils advanced but there was a shock as 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka was knocked out by unseeded Italian Simone Bolelli, going down 7-6(5) 6-3 7-6(4).

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