LONDON: Iga Swiatek eased through at Wimbledon on Wednesday as the All England Club reeled from rain delays and climate protests.

The unseasonable cold and wet have given officials a scheduling headache. Tuesday’s torrential downpours meant only one hour’s play was possible on the outside courts and just eight matches completed.

In all, 87 ties were on Wednesday’s menu, but rain again played spoilsport, with the start delayed by 90 minutes. Eventually 14 matches were pushed back to Thursday.

Once play got underway, two climate protesters from the Just Stop Oil environmental activist group ran onto Court 18, one of the showpiece arenas, to scatter orange confetti and jigsaw pieces during Grigor Dimitrov’s match against Sho Shimabukuro. The two, both in their 60s, were removed by security staff.

“Obviously it’s not pleasant,” Dimitrov said about the disruption after winning his match in straight sets. “In the end of the day there is not much you can do. I think everyone in a way did their part as quick as possible. I mean, rain was coming so it was also a little bit fortunate to come off the court and have some time to kind of like regroup a little bit and shake it off.”

Just hours later, the match between Katie Boulter and Daria Saville on the same court was held up when another protestor repeated the confetti-jigsaw gesture to jeers from frustrated fans.

Women’s top seed Swiatek beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-0 to cruise into the third round.

The reigning US Open and French Open champion has never been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon but has dropped just six games so far in this year’s tournament.

World number three Daniil Medvedev marked his return to Wimbledon after last year’s ban on Russian players with a first-round win.

Former US Open champion Medvedev defeated French-born British wild card Arthur Fery 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.

In 2022, the All England Club banned all Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

US ninth seed Taylor Fritz saw off Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in five sets in a match which had started on Monday.

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk clinched the day’s first shock by coming back to down Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a first round tie twice interrupted for the rain.

Men’s 10th seed Frances Tiafoe, who made the last 16 in 2022, saw off China’s Wu Yibing in straight sets.

Wu needed a medical time out at the end of the first set after falling ill but still pushed his American opponent with some impressive shot-making.

In Tuesday’s late action, British national treasure Andy Murray begin his bid for an unlikely third title by dispatching home wildcard Ryan Peniston for the loss of four games.

Former world number one Murray, who won his first Wimbledon title in 2013 before adding a second three years later, came through 6-3, 6-0, 6-1.

Now ranked at 40, and playing with a metal hip, the 36-year-old had too much power and finesse for wildcard Peniston, the world number 268.

“It’s amazing to be back on Centre Court again,” said Murray. “I started off quite nervously, I was a little bit tentative but once I got a break I played some good stuff. There were good signs.”

The Centre Court roof also enabled women’s second seed Aryna Sabalenka to reach round two with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Panna Udvardy.

Australian Open champion Sabalenka reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2021, but was banned in 2022 along with all Belarusian and Russian players due to the invasion of Ukraine.

The only other match played on Tuesday was local hope Cameron Norrie against Czech Tomas Machac, with the 12th-seeded Briton prevailing 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Court One.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2023