By DPA
London : Americans Andy Roddick and Serena Williams booked the first two spots in the third round of the Wimbledon Championships Wednesday as a day of rain happily failed to materialise.
Two-time losing finalist Roddick, seeded third, showed his superiority over Thai Danai Udomchoke to earn a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) decision.
Williams, winner here in 2002 and 2003, rallied from 1-4 down in the opening set on the way to victory over Australian Alicia Molik 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
That match was decided on a final challenge to the new Hawk-eye line-calling system, which Molik lost to end her fortnight in the second round.
The seventh-seeded Williams struck 10 aces, with her ample count of 18 unforced errors exceeded only by the 22 of Molik, a former top 10 player now ranked 75th.
Roddick kept up his personal record of never failing to reach the third round at the event as he kept Asian Games champion Udomchoke, from his dream of back-to-back grass wins.
Due to Monday's rain, 20 women's first-round matches were due to be completed. Officials made a huge dent in that backlog, with French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic leading the winners.
The sixth seed from Serbia beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) in a match interrupted briefly by a passing shower.
"It helped me a lot because I could take some time and realise what I'm doing wrong. From the first moment when I was back on the court, I was more aggressive again."
The Serb had originally been due to play on Tuesday but managed to roll with the scheduling delays.
"I was expecting to play, and then at the last moment they cancelled me. That's just part of the tournament, we have to adjust.
"We just have to try and work out the best we can."
Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva advanced over Nathalie Dechy of 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) while 13th seed Dinara Safina earned a win over Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine 7-5, 7-6 (9-7).
Czech number 14 Nicole Vaidisova beat Italian Karin Knapp 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.