LONDON, June 28: Top seed Maria Sharapova survived a scare before reaching the third round of Wimbledon where she was joined by her biggest rival for the women's title Serena Williams on Thursday.

World No 1 Sharapova, who elected to come off court in the Wednesday night gloom when leading by a set and 3-1 against dangerous grasscourter Tsvetana Pironkova, went into meltdown for a while on the resumption in sticky lunchtime heat on Court One before prevailing 7-6, 6-7, 6-0.

Serena, the four-time champion who Sharapova beat to win her sole Wimbledon crown in 2004, was far more ruthless in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink.

The sixth seed was razor sharp as she booked a third-round clash with China's Zheng Jie.

With sunshine and high temperatures replacing the frustrating drizzle of the day before which prompted the closure of the Centre Court roof, organisers worked through a small backlog of postponed and unfinished second round matches in the top half of both singles draws.

Sharapova had saved five set points against the 2010 semi-finalist Pironkova on Wednesday before moving into a commanding position — only to pack her bags three games shy of victory. That decision looked odd at the time and even more so as she made a ragged start on Thursday.

Pironkova immediately got back on level terms at 3-3 and when the second set reached a tiebreak she went 6-1 ahead.

Sharapova again saved a couple of set points before sending a forehand long and set up what could have been a nervy decider.

Pironkova double-faulted on a game point at the start of the third and that proved the spark for Sharapova to catch fire again and rattle off six successive games.

Britain's Andy Murray faced an all-out assault from massive- serving Croat Ivo Karlovic before booking his place in the third round with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 victory. The No 4 seed struggled to get a handle on the Karlovic serve with 17 aces flying past him and the 2.08 metre Croat also volleyed well to frustrate Murray.

After claiming the first set, Murray was unable to find a way to upset the Karlovic serve in the second and was pegged back in a tiebreak. He broke twice in the third set and closed out the match in a second tiebreak to advance.

Kei Nishikori, the 19th seed, beat France's Florent Serra 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to become the first Japanese male player to reach the third round of the Wimbledon singles since Shuzo Matsuoka 17 years ago.

Belgian David Goffin backed up his impressive first round win over Australian 20th seed Bernard Tomic with a four-set victory over American Jesse Levine.

With raindrops hovering around south west London on Wednesday, Centre Court's roof slid shut to enable defending champion Novak Djokovic to reach the third round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over American Ryan Harrison just before 10:00pm local time.

Seventh seed Caroline Wozniacki, who began the year as world No 1, did not even make it past the first round after losing 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Austria's Tamira Paszek despite having two match points in a contest spanning two days.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Second round: 4-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); 27-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1; 30-Andy Roddick (US) bt Bjoern Phau (Germany) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; 16-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Lukasz Kubot (Poland) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-1; Benoit Paire (France) bt 22-Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4; Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) bt Juergen Melzer (Austria) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 7-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Kenny De Schepper (France) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-4; 17-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Grega Zemlja (Slovenia) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3; Alejandro Falla (Colombia) bt Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5; 28-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Xavier Malisse (Belgium) bt 13-Gilles Simon (France) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); David Goffin (Belgium) bt Jesse Levine (US) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3; 19-Kei Nishikori (Japan) bt Florent Serra (France) 6-3, 7-5, 6-2; Brian Baker (US) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-0, 6-2, 6-4.

Women’s singles:

Second round: Mirjana Lucic (Croatia) bt 9-Marion Bartoli (France) 6-4, 6-3; 24-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt Kristyna Pliskova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-4; Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) 4-6, 6-3, 8-6; 14-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Tamira Paszek (Austria) bt Alize Cornet (France) 6-2, 6-1; Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) bt Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; 22-Julia Goerges (Germany) bt Anastasiya Yakimova (Belarus) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) bt Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) 6-4, 6-4; 1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0; 6-Serena Williams (US) bt Melinda Czink (Hungary) 6-1, 6-4; 28-Christina McHale (US) bt Mathilde Johansson (France) 7-5, 7-5; 8-Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 7-5, 6-3; 25-Zheng Jie (China) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 6-4, 6-2; 21-Roberta Vinci (Italy) bt Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-4, 6-3; 10-Sara Errani (Italy) bt Anne Keothavong (Britain) 6-1, 6-1 Wednesday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

Second round: 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Ryan Harrison (US) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 18-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Ruben Bemelmans (Belgium) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 29-Julien Benneteau (France) bt Michael Russell (US) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4, 7-5; 26-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt Inigo Cervantes (Spain) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4; 12-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Guillaume Rufin (France) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Jerzy Janowicz (Poland) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 9-7; Viktor Troicki (Serbia) bt Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 7-6(3) 6-4; Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) bt Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2; 8-Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt Ryan Sweeting (US) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2. First round: 30-Andy Roddick (US) bt Jamie Baker (Britain) 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 7-5; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Women’s singles:

Second round: Sorana Cirstea (Romania) bt 11-Li Na (China) 6-3, 6-4; 12-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; 17-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 6-1, 6-2; Kim Clijsters (Belgium) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-3; Camila Giorgi (Italy) bt Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) 6-3, 6-1; Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) bt Stephanie Foretz Gacon (France) 6-4, 6-1; 30-Peng Shuai (China) bt Ayumi Morita (Japan) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; 3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-2, 6-1. First round: Anastasiya Yakimova (Belarus) bt Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Tamira Paszek (Austria) bt 7-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.—Reuters