Nadal beats Berankis to advance to Wimbledon third round

Rafael Nadal has made it through to the third round of Wimbledon for the 11th time after getting past Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

The second-seeded Nadal looked far from his best at times but won on Centre Court in a match that finished under the roof after a rain delay during the fourth set on Thursday.

It was Nadal's 307th Grand Slam match win, taking him past Martina Navratilova in fourth place on the all-time list, behind Roger Federerer (369), Serena Williams (365) and Nov ak Djokovic (330).

Nadal is looking for a record-extending 23rd Grand Slam title, and third Wimbledon trophy.

A bit of grind

Some days at the office are bit of a grind, even if in Rafael Nadal's case his place of work was Wimbledon's sunny but chilly Centre Court for a match against Ricardas Berankis.

An off-key Nadal never looked in serious danger of having his bid for the calendar-year Slam wrecked by the world number 106, but he knows he will have to play much better in the rounds ahead to claim his third Wimbledon title.

The statistics rather told the tale with Nadal unusually making more unforced errors than winners – 39-35.

"Not the best start honestly but I finished playing well. The fourth set has been the level of tennis for me, important improvement. The rest of the things I have room to improve," Nadal told reporters.

"But, yeah, it's a victory in four sets, spend three hours on the court again, that helps."

READ MORE: Nadal crushes Ruud to win 14th French Open title, 22nd Grand Slam crown