Djokovic, Swiatek advance as climate protesters disrupt rain-hit Wimbledon

LONDON: Novak Djokovic was pushed hard but secured his 350th Grand Slam victory by beating Australia's Jordan Thompson 6-3 7-6(4) 7-5 to storm into the Wimbledon third round on a rainy Wednesday (Jul 5) when two matches were disrupted by climate protesters.

Women's top seed Iga Swiatek outclassed Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 6-0 and Daria Kasatkina thumped Jodie Burrage 6-0 6-2 to also reach round three before organisers worked to clear the backlog of first-round matches.

Russian Daniil Medvedev overcame wildcard Arthur Fery and Marta Kostyuk battled back to knock out Maria Sakkari before Stefanos Tsitsipas won a marathon clash with Dominic Thiem 3-6 7-6(1) 6-2 6-7(5) 7-6(10-8).

Scheduling was not the only headache for the All England Club, which eventually cancelled 21 matches, as the threat of protests by Just Stop Oil activists finally materialised and play was twice interrupted during matches on Court 18.

The first incident involved two protesters running on to the lawn holding boxes marked as 1,000-piece jigsaws of Centre Court before sprinkling the contents, halting play between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Japan's Sho Shimabukuro.

Security staff quickly removed the individuals. The later match between Britain's Katie Boulter and Australian Daria Saville was also halted by a similar incident.

"Following an incident on Court 18, two individuals have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage and these individuals have now been removed from the Grounds," organisers said after the first incident.

Former semi-finalist Dimitrov later said that Wimbledon's security arrangements were adequate.

"Obviously, it's not pleasant. In the end of the day there is not much you can do. I think everyone in a