Novak Djokovic became only the third player in history to win 350 grand slam singles matches after seeing off the challenge of Jordan Thompson at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The defending champion beat his unseeded Australian opponent 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 to reach the third round.

Roger Federer (369) and Serena Williams (365), who both retired last year, are the only players with more grand slam singles wins than Djokovic.

A single break secured the first set for the Serbian second seed and he edged the second-set tie-break to establish an iron grip on the match on Centre Court. Thompson, ranked 70th in the world, remained steady on his serve in the third set but eventually cracked in the 12th game when trailing 6-5.

Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed almost four hours and five sets over two days to subdue former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem of Austria, as he won 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-7 (7-5) 7-6(10-8) to move into the Wimbledon second round.

The 24-year-old Greek, chasing a maiden grand slam title, will next play two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.

Earlier, Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev fought off the spirited efforts of British world No. 391 Arthur Fery with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 20-year-old wild card as he starts his latest attempt for a serious challenge at Wimbledon.

Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, world No. 1 in 2022 and winner of five tournaments this year, has only once reached the fourth round, though he missed last year’s tournament due to the ban on Russian players.

Fery, making his Tour-level debut, knocked him out of his stride for a while with a sustained serve and volley approach but a rain break at 5-5 in the first set changed the dynamic and Medvedev quickly wrapped up the opener.

It was not the procession many expected after that, though, with Fery breaking to love early in the secondset as Medvedev struggled for consistency.

The 27-year-old’s serve remained a powerful weapon, however, and enabled him to avoid further scares.

Swiatek sails

World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland clinched a spot in the third round of Wimbledon for the third straight season with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Making her first appearance on Centre Court this year, the top-seeded Swiatek won her first career meeting with the 84th-ranked Sorribes Tormo after just 70 minutes of play. It is the Pole’s 40th match-win of the season.

Swiatek has won her last 12 contested matches, after adding two victories already this week.

Sakkari shocked

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk battled back from a set down and dealt with three rain interruptions to beat eighth seed Maria Sakkari 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 to move into the second round.

The 21-year-old had looked out for the count after the first set and Sakkari’s flawless power game but recovered after a lengthy rain interruption in the first set and another in the second to turn the match around.

Daria Kasatkina made swift and short work of her second- round match, thumping British wildcard Jodie Burrage 6-0, 6-2 in an hour.

Kasatkina found herself in the third round before many first-round matches had been completed because of heavy rain that washed out nearly 70 matches on Tuesday.

Colour change

There was a subtle moment of history on Centre Court on Tuesday as reigning champion Elena Rybakina took full advantage of the relaxed dress code by wearing dark shorts during her opening round-match against Shelby Rogers. Both Rybakina and her American opponent were united in one thing: Electing to wear black undershorts.

Last November The All England Club took the decision to allow women to wear darker undershorts to combat potential period anxiety, and this is the first tournament players have had the new liberty.

Protesters halt play

Protesters briefly interrupted play on the third day, releasing orange ticker-tape mixed with jigsaw puzzle pieces on Court 18 during a men’s singles match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro which the latter won 6-1,6-2, 6-1.

Written with inputs from Reuters