Novak Djokovic had to play all three sets at Wimbledon this time. The three-time champion advanced to the third round by beating Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 Thursday, two days after his opening match ended early when his opponent retired with an injury. Djokovic won the Wimbledon title in 2011, '14 and '15. But he has not won a major title since completing a career Grand Slam at the 2016 French Open.
In his opening two matches at the All England Club, Djokovic has only lost eight games.
"It's perfect. Exactly what I want," Djokovic said. "I don't want to have any five-set matches in there."
Djokovic will next face Ernests Gulbis. The unseeded Latvian defeated Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Roger Federer and Angelique Kerber were scheduled to play later on Day 4 at Wimbledon.
Federer, a seven-time champion at the All England Club, will play on Centre Court against Dusan Lajovic in the second round. The top-ranked Kerber will face Kirsten Flipkens on No. 1 Court.
Grigor Dimitrov, Gael Monfils and David Ferrer also reached the third round. Ferrer advanced when opponent Steve Darcis retired with an injury while trailing 3-0.
Darcis is the eighth man to retire during a match this week. The Belgian took a medical timeout after 18 minutes of play and was unable to continue.
Two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova seeded seventh, advanced to the third round in the women's draw along with ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska and 24th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe.
Two players previously eliminated from the tournament were handed fines on Thursday.
Bernard Tomic of Australia was fined $15,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct two days after he spoke about feeling "a little bit bored out there" during his match.
Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who threw a handful coins in the direction of the chair umpire after a second-round loss on Wednesday, was given three fines totalling $14,500.
