Marcos Baghdatis defeated Frenchman Nicolas Devilder in four sets, 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, to reach the third round.

Cyprus's Marcos Baghdatis fought harder than had been expected to get past Frenchman Nicolas Devilder, ranked 86 places below him, in a second-round men's singles game at Wimbledon on Thursday.

Baghdatis, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, advanced to the third round with a 3-1 win, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-2. The 22-year-old Cypriot needed almost three hours to down Devilder.

Baghdatis, the world's No 16 and 10th seed at the Grand Slam tournament, swamped Devilder in the opening set for a 6-0 win. But the 27-year-old Frenchman returned a more focused player for the encounter's second set. Devilder took it to a tiebreaker before losing 7-5. He managed to take the third set to a tiebreaker, this time winning it with a 7-4 score. But the 22-year-old Cypriot then averted any possibility of a complete comeback by the Frenchman. Baghdatis overpowered Devilder in the fourth set for a 6-2 win and a place in the third round.

In the women's singles competition, Greece's Eleni Daniilidou, ranked 47 in the world, lost her second-round match in three sets against Czech opponent Lucie Safarova.

Daniilidou, who had made it as far as Wimbledon's fourth round in 2002, lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to Safarova, the world's No 25.

Daniilidou's unforced errors, 16 in total, were less than half those committed by her Czech opponent. But Safarova served far more powerfully to dominate the match. The Czech registered nine aces compared to one by Daniilidou.