LONDON, England (AFP) — Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a testing centre court examination at the hands of close friend and veteran serve-and-volleyer Radek Stepanek to reach the Wimbledon third round yesterday.

Djokovic, the 2011 champion, carved out a 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5) victory over the 35-year-old Czech who has now lost 11 of the pair’s 12 meetings.

But the world number two progressed the hard way, squandering a 5-2 lead in the third set tie-break before recovering his composure.

Confident statistics of 18 aces and 54 winners helped lay the foundation for victory and a third-round clash with French world number 44 Gilles Simon.

Defending champion Andy Murray handed out a tough Wimbledon lesson to Slovenia’s Blaz Rola, a former US college champion, coasting to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 win over a grasscourt rookie playing just the 10th match of his career.

The British third seed eased to victory in just 84 minutes, hitting seven aces and 27 winners against the world number 92 and goes on to face Spanish 27th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer failed in his bid to reach an 18th consecutive third round at a Grand Slam when he was knocked out by Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov.

The 32-year-old Ferrer last failed to reach the third round at a major at the 2010 Australian Open, but Kuznetsov, the world number 118, claimed a famous 6-7 (5/7), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win to reach the third round for the first time.

Ferrer had come into the tournament still suffering the after-effects of the stomach illness which forced him out of the ‘s-Hertogenbosch grasscourt warm-up in the Netherlands last week.

Also heading for the exit was French Open semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis with the 12th seed losing to Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

Stakhovksy, who shocked Roger Federer in the second round in 2013, next faces France’s Jeremy Chardy.

Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, beat Australia’s Bernard Tomic 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 while Bulgarian 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Australian teenager Luke Saville 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

In the women’s event, former world number one and double Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka was knocked out, losing 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to Serb world number 45, Bojana Jovanovski.

Azarenka, twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist, had only returned to action at Eastbourne last week following a three-month lay-off caused by a left foot injury.

The 22-year-old Jovanovski has reached the third round for the first time and will next face Czech qualifier Tereza Smitkova.

Australian Open champion Li Na, a three-time quarter-finalist, swept to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Austria’s Yvonne Meusburger, hitting 33 winners to just four from the world number 38.

Second seed Li, 32, goes on to face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.