Seven-time champion Roger Federer breezed into the Wimbledon third round on Thursday with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win over Luxembourg qualifier Gilles Muller.
Federer goes on to face either 30th-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain or Santiago Giraldo of Colombia for a place in the last-16. Their match was suspended in the fifth set with Granollers leading 2-1.
Federer, seeded fouth, completed his match under the Centre Court roof after rain brought an early halt to play on the outside courts.
"It was only my second match and a totally different opponent to the first one – big lefty, coming to the net, keeping the ball short," the Swiss said.
"It was really a serving contest out there, I thought, and I'm happy I made it because the second set was tough with the rain delay and I wasn't having many looks on his serve."
Federer sent down 25 aces and won 91 per cent of the points on his first serve.
"Sure it's nice to make aces, it's always good for the confidence but then again, a different day with a different opponent, maybe in the next round, I might not serve that many first serves, not that many aces or my opponent reads my serve.
"It is nice to get thoses aces and those wins like that. But I'd better keep working hard."
Federer completed his match in an hour and 31 minutes and said there was no reason to hang around between points – in stark contrast to his rival Rafael Nadal, who regularly runs through a series of tics between serves.
"I don't take that much time, especially the points go one or two short rallies, I don't see any point whatsoever taking more than 10 seconds between points," Federer said.
"I think it's important also for the spectators and also especially for the TV that we keep it moving and I try to do that without trying to rush my opponent.
"I'm happy I'm able to play that way – but not everybody can."
Nadal, meanwhile, avenged his shock 2012 Wimbledon defeat to Lukas Rosol with the tense and hard-fought win over the big-hitting Czech.
World No 1 Nadal did it the hard way, however, dropping the first set and then trailing 2-4 in the second before then having to save a set point in the tiebreaker.
But the 2008 and 2010 champion, who lost in the first round to Steve Darcis in 2013, wrapped up a place in the third round for the first time since 2011 on a third match point.
His mighty roar and extravagant fist pump at the moment of victory, which shook Centre Court to the core, spoke volumes as the hurt and humiliation of two years ago was finally vanquished.
"I tried to keep fighting and waited for my moment," said Nadal, after dropping the first set for the second time in two matches at this year's Wimbledon.
"I saved a set point in the tiebreaker which was very important because to be two sets down to a big server like Rosol would have been very dangerous."
Giant American John Isner was back in record-setting Wimbledon form as well when he took his first set tiebreak 19-17 against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in their second round tie.
It was the second longest men's singles tiebreak in Wimbledon history.
Eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic also cruised, topping American Jack Sock 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
He said, however, that he wasn't much a fan of the grasscourts.
"I don't think, really, that's it's a surface anybody can say they play their best tennis on," Raonic told reporters.
"I think it's a matter of playing less worse than you do on other surfaces."
A pair of French seeds also fell on Thursday. No 13 Richard Gasquet took his first two sets but succumbed to Australian tennager Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 5-7, 8-10, while Gael Monfils was bested in a similarly tight duel by Czech Jiri Vesely 6-7 (3/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3), 4-6. Their compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded 14th, narrowly came through his own five-set thriller that had been suspended on Wednesday night, topping American Sam Querrey 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 14-12.
Other seeds to make their way through included No 5 Stan Wawrinka, beating Yen-Hsun Lu, No 10 Kei Nishikori (d Denis Kudla) and No 23 Tommy Robredo (d Adrian Mannarino). No 22 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was ousted by Italian Simone Bolelli 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 5-7.
The rest of the Thursday's winners included Mikhail Kukushin (d Frank Dancevic), Denis Istomin (d Julian Reister) and Lukasz Kubot (d Dusan Lajovic).
TWo matches were suspended to Friday in addition to Giraldo-Granollers, with Jerzy Janowicz winning the first set over Lleyton Hewitt and the second one evenat 4-4, and 19th-seeded Feliciano Lopez never even beginning against Ante Pavic.
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Roger Federer breezes into Wimbledon third round: ‘But I’d better keep working hard’
Federer topped Luxembourg qualifier Gilles Muller with little trouble on Thursday, as Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori also among the winners.
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