London: Rafael Nadal had his fans drooling with another muscle-bulging display of brilliance to crush Ryan Sweeting 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, on Wednesday, and stay firmly on course to defend his Wimbledon title.

With rain in the air and the roof closed, wolf whistles echoed around Centre Court when the Spaniard changed his shirt and gasps of awe met his most effortless winners in a one-sided second-round match.

“The Wimbledon Centre Court with or without the roof is probably the best court in the world,” he said. “Roof off for sure,” he added.

The champion barely sent a forehand long or wide throughout the encounter, even when under pressure, and his rampant serves and pinpoint volleys were equally impressive.

Nadal had started the French Open in nervous fashion last month before gradually improving and peaking in time to beat Roger Federer yet again in the final.

In contrast, he has found his groove straight away at Wimbledon and the prospect of him playing even better next week would frighten even the most avid supporter of Federer, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray.

American Sweeting, the world No. 69, “was beaten fairly badly” in his own words by Nadal at the Australian Open and Indian Wells this year.

His attempts to put up a better fight floundered so much that he was forced to try to rally the crowd with his hands when he finally won a game to make it 1-4 in the second set.

He hung on bravely but the gulf in class was vast, especially when Sweeting tried to target Nadal's backhand but the world number one simply ran round the ball and fire off another unstoppable forehand in trademark fashion.

The ladies chomping strawberries in the stands knew the end was nigh and an imperious Nadal clinched victory to a cascade of applause and screams of “We love you Rafa” from his adoring fans. “I don’t know what is my best form, I try my best every day,” added the Mallorcan who next plays Gilles Muller from Luxembourg. “I need a few adjustments.”

Meanwhile, local hope Andy Murray reached the third round with a routine 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 win over German Tobias Kamke on Wednesday.

The fourth seed continued the fluent form which brought him the Queen’s title this month, serving solidly and denying his opponent many chances to attack.

Murray, bidding to become the first British men's singles champion at Wimbledon for 75 years, broke serve to lead 6-5 in the third set and he sealed victory with a service winner on his first match point.

Earlier, it was Venus’ turn to supply the unique Williams family drama as she survived a gripping three-set battle with 40-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm.

A day after her younger sister Serena broke down in tears after beating Aravane Rezai in three sets, 23rd seed Venus was made to sweat buckets under the roof for a 6-7, 6-3, 8-6 win that lasted just under three hours.

Date-Krumm, who on Monday became the second oldest player to win a singles match at the championships, stood toe to toe with the American in a spellbinding duel that ebbed and flowed in front of a packed stadium.

Action was in short supply elsewhere with rain delaying play on the other courts but Williams and Date-Krumm provided a whole day's worth of it in a scrap that was an early contender for match of the tournament.

“I thought she played unbelievable today,” Williams, who returned from a five-month injury layoff at Eastbourne last week, said.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva reached the third round at Wimbledon on Wednesday by beating Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-1, 7-6 (5).

The 2010 Wimbledon runner-up improved her record to 6-1 against Vesnina, with her only loss coming last year when she retired with an ankle injury.

Last year’s men’s runner-up Tomas Berdych wasted no time when he finally got on court, the sixth seed cruising past Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and 10th seeded American Mardy Fish also progressed with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

Day II Results

(Seeded players and Indians only)

Men’s singles, first round: Juergen Melzer (11, Aut) bt Alejandro Falla (Col) 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 6-2, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (12, Fra) bt Go Soeda (Jap) 6-3 7-6(4) 6-2, Somdev Dev Varman (India) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) 6-4 4-2 (Gremelmayr retired), Robin Soderling (5, Swe) bt Philipp Petzschner (Ger) 6-4 6-4 2-6 7-6(5), Nicolas Almagro (16, Esp) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 6-4, Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (22, Ukr) 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(3) 6-4, Michael Llodra (19, Fra) bt James Ward (GBR) 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3, Novak Djokovic (2, Srb) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 6-4 6-1 6-1, David Nalbandian (28, Arg) bt Julian Reister (Ger) 7-5 6-2 6-3, David Ferrer (7, Esp) bt Benoit Paire (Fra) 6-4 6-4 6-4, Marcos Baghdatis (32, Cyp) bt James Blake (US) 6-4 6-2 6-7(5) 4-6 6-4, Mikhail Youzhny (18, Rus) bt Juan Monaco (Arg) 4-6 6-2 6-2 4-6 6-4, Florian Mayer (20, Ger) bt Daniel Evans (GBR) 7-6(5) 7-6(1) 3-6 6-4, Viktor Troicki (13, Srb) bt Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) 3-6 6-0 7-6(3) 6-3, Roger Federer (3, Sui) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) 7-6(2) 6-4 6-2, Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt Nikolay Davydenko (29, Rus) 7-5 6-3 7-5, Fernando Verdasco (21, Esp) bt Radek Stepanek (Czr) 2-6 4-6 6-3 7-6(6) 9-7, Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Marin Cilic (27, Cro) 7-6(2) 3-6 6-3 6-4, Juan Martin Del Potro (24, Arg) bt Flavio Cipolla (Ita) 6-1 6-4 6-3, Andy Roddick (8, US) bt Andreas Beck (Germany) 6-4 7-6(6) 6-3, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (26, Esp) bt Andrey Golubev (Kaz) 6-3 6-3 0-0 retired, Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Janko Tipsarevic (23, Srb) 7-5 3-1 retired, Juan Ignacio Chela (25, Arg) bt Marinko Matosevic (Aus) 6-4 6-4 6-7(6) 6-2, Gilles Simon (15, Fra) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6(3)

Women’s singles, first round: Ana Ivanovic (18, Srb) bt Melanie Oudin (US) 6-0 6-1, Lucie Safarova (31, Czr) bt Lucie Hradecka (Czr) 2-6 6-3 6-3, Li Na (3, Chi) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) 6-3 6-3, Maria Sharapova (5, Rus) bt Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) 6-2 6-1, Maria Kirilenko (26, Rus) bt Alberta Brianti (Ita) 6-2 6-1, Marion Bartoli (9, Fra) bt Kristyna Pliskova (Czr) 6-0 6-2, Peng Shuai (20, Chi) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 6-0 6-4, Melinda Czink (Hun) bt Samantha Stosur (10, Aus) 6-3 6-4, Victoria Azarenka (4, Bel) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) 6-4 3-2 retired, Caroline Wozniacki (1, Den) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) 6-2 6-1, Daniela Hantuchova (25, Svk) bt Vitalia Diatchenko (Rus) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3, Serena Williams (7, US) bt Aravane Rezai (Fra) 6-3 3-6 6-1, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Esp) bt Jelena Jankovic (15, Srb) 5-7 6-4 6-3, Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (14, Rus) bt Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) 6-4 7-6(3), Andrea Petkovic (11, Ger) bt Stephanie Foretz Gacon (Fra) 6-3 6-4, Roberta Vinci (29, Ita) bt Vera Dushevina (Rus) 7-5 6-2, Petra Kvitova (8, Czr) bt Alexa Glatch (US) 6-2 6-2, Tsvetana Pironkova (32, Bul) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-2 6-1