World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka is safely through to the third round of Wimbledon after beating Marie Bouzkova in straight sets on Wednesday.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was given a tough test by her Czech opponent, whose career best performance in a major came at the All England Club in 2022 when she reached the quarter-finals.
The world No 48 was a break up late in the first set against Sabalenka, who secured both the Australian and French Open titles last year.
But the Belarusian showed her class by breaking back before going on to win the tiebreak and then take the second set, securing a 7-6, 6-4 victory on Centre Court.
“We've played a lot of close matches so I'm pleased to be through this difficult round,” said top seed Sabalenka.
“That was a tough moment of the match [going a break down late in the first set]. I was just trying to put the ball back on that side and hope I could break back. Until that point, my serve wasn't good enough to break.
“But I was able to break and I felt a little bit better at that moment, which is why I think I was able to win the tiebreak and win in straight sets."
After being dragged into a draining three-set rollercoaster on Monday, Australian Open champion Madison Keys enjoyed a far more comfortable second-round victory.
The American had fought back from a set down in furnace like conditions to beat Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 in her first-round clash that lasted two hours and 41 minutes.
Keys returned to a cooler Court 2 for round two, up against Serbian Olga Danilovic, and flew into a 5-2 lead in the first set only for the world No 37 to break back.
But sixth seed Keys regained her composure to take the opener and then sail through the second set to complete a 6-4, 6-2 victory in 75 minutes.
Danilovic has been one of the most improved players of the past 12 months, raising her ranking from world No 150 last July to No 37 this week.
But the Serb's surge has mostly been down to her results on clay and hard courts – her first-round defeat of qualifier Zhang Shuai was her first tour-level win on grass.
“I definitely felt a little more comfortable today,” said two-time quarter-finalist Keys, who has three grass-court titles to her name.
“It's the cloudy, rainy England we know and love, so that helps a lot. It felt a little bit more normal out here today.
“She's obviously had a phenomenal couple of years and she's had some really big upsets. I knew she could play some really great tennis, so really just wanted to try to get a lead and then just run with it.”
British hope Sonay Kartal secured her third-round spot for the second year in a row as she destroyed Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova 6-2, 6-2 on Court 3.
In the previous round, British No 3 Kartal knocked out former French Open champion and 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko in three sets. Tomova had made it through after first-round opponent Ons Jabeur was forced to retire.
But back on Court 3 again, Tomova proved far less of a challenge for Kartal who described her performance as “one of those good days at the office”.
“This tournament I really wanted to show I'm at this level now, I can consistently play,” said the 23-year-old.
“After the match against Jelena I had so much confidence and I feel like with each match out here and on the grass I'm growing in confidence.”
“The last 12 months I have thrown myself on to the scene,” added Kartal, who is ranked 51 in the world.
“This year I've taken a conscious effort of only wanting to play the bigger matches against the best players on tour, day in, day out. I'm playing with more freedom and more confidence.”
