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London • Novak Djokovic lay crumpled on Centre Court, clutching his upper left arm and grimacing. He felt something pop and feared the worst.
Djokovic had lunged for a shot behind the baseline, tumbled on the grass and rolled over twice, his racket flying from his hand. His new coach, Boris Becker, stood in the player's box and looked on gravely.
After a medical timeout and treatment from a trainer, the top-seeded Djokovic needed just four more games to complete a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over France's Gilles Simon on Friday, sending him into the fourth round and keeping alive his bid for a second Wimbledon title and seventh Grand Slam championship.
"Luckily there is nothing damaged," Djokovic said. "I just came from the doctor's office, ultrasound. It's all looking good. I'm quite confident that it will not affect my physical state or regimen or daily routine. I think it's going to be fine."
Djokovic will have two days off before an intriguing matchup Monday against another Frenchman, the free-swinging 14th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
"They told me usually in these kind of particular cases you might feel soreness in the next couple of days," Djokovic said. "But I can play around with practices and recovery and see how it goes. But I'm quite confident it's going to be all right for next one."
He felt all right enough to joke that he had talked to Becker about improving his style.
"We obviously need to work on my diving volleys, learning how to fall down on the court," he said. "I'm not very skillful in that."
Djokovic's injury scare came on a day that also featured the elimination of second-seeded woman Li Na and a three-set, 2 ½-hour Centre Court battle between two former female champions — with 2011 winner Petra Kvitova overcoming five-time champ Venus Williams 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5.
Defending men's champion Andy Murray, who hasn't dropped a set this week, extended his winning streak at the All England Club to 16 matches by beating Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. The streak goes back to his gold-medal run at the 2012 London Olympics, which was played at Wimbledon.
No. 6 Tomas Berdych, runner-up at Wimbledon four years ago, became the highest-seeded man to go out so far when he fell to No. 26 Marin Cilic 7-6 (5) 6-4, 7-6 (6) in match that finished in near darkness at 9:36 p.m. Berdych, who had called for play to be suspended because of the fading light, hit a forehand long on the second match point. Cilic finished with 20 aces.
Li, the Australian Open champion, fell 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to 43rd-ranked Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in the first major upset of the tournament. Since winning her second Grand Slam title in Melbourne in January, Li has lost in the first round of the French Open and now failed to reach the second week at Wimbledon.
Li double-faulted on match point — after the point was replayed when she won a challenge on a forehand that had been called out. —
Wimbledon results
Friday's Singles
Men
Third round
Feliciano Lopez (19), Spain, def. Ante Pavic, Croatia, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5. Santiago Giraldo, Colombia, def. Marcel Granollers (30), Spain, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5. Jerzy Janowicz (15), Poland, def. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-3.
Second Round
Kevin Anderson (20), South Africa, def. Fabio Fognini (16), Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (14), France, def. Jimmy Wang, Taiwan, 6-2, 6-2, 7-5. Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, def. Gilles Simon, France, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Leonardo Mayer, Argentina, def. Andrey Kuznetsov, Russia, 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3. Jeremy Chardy, France, def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0. Grigor Dimitrov (11), Bulgaria, def. Alexandr Dolgopolov (21), Ukraine, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Andy Murray (3), Britain, def. Roberto Bautista Agut (27), Spain, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Marin Cilic (26), Croatia, def. Tomas Berdych (6), Czech Republic, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6).
Women
Third round
Simona Halep (3), Romania, def. Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Belinda Bencic, Switzerland, def. Victoria Duval, United States, 6-4, 7-5.
Second Round
Caroline Wozniacki (16), Denmark, def. Ana Konjuh, Croatia, 6-3, 6-0. Ekaterina Makarova (22), Russia, def. Caroline Garcia, France, 7-5, 6-3. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic, def. Li Na (2), China, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). Peng Shuai, China, def. Lauren Davis, United States, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Tereza Smitkova, Czech Republic, def. Bojana Jovanovski, Serbia, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8. Lucie Safarova (23), Czech Republic, def. Dominika Cibulkova (10), Slovakia, 6-4, 6-2. Agnieszka Radwanska (4), Poland, def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal, 6-2, 6-0. Petra Kvitova (6), Czech Republic, def. Venus Williams (30), United States, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5.