London: Top seed Novak Djokovic had to dig deep to reach the Wimbledon third round with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5) victory over Czech veteran Radek Stepanek on Wednesday.


Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning his men's singles second round match against Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek in London. Pic/AFP 

Djokovic had dropped just five games in a ruthless first round demolition of Andrey Golubev, but the 2011 Wimbledon champion was pushed far harder by the canny Stepanek on Centre Court.