Wimbledon winners include Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal

WIMBLEDON — It rained late in the day Thursday at Wimbledon, leaving only Roger Federer’s match under the closed roof to carry on.

And that one didn’t last long.

Federer, racing against Father Time to win an eighth title here, sent Gilles Muller of Luxembourg out in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. Federer joined other marquee stars in making easy advances.

Only top-seeded Rafael Nadal struggled, beating unseeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic after being down a set and a break at 4-1 of the second.

Serena Williams, top-seeded in the women’s tournament, played on Court 1 at the same time Nadal was on Centre Court, and was gone before he broke a sweat. Williams beat Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa, 6-1, 6-1.

Maria Sharapova, the recent French Open winner who is seeded fifth here, defeated Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, 6-2, 6-1.

Williams said she is hoping to ease her way into the tournament.

“I don’t want to feel great, necessarily, right now,” she said, “because hopefully I have several more matches to play.”

As has been the tendency in recent major tennis events, 6-foot-10 John Isner is the last U.S. men’s player standing. He got to the third round with a 7-6 (17), 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory over Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

Isner hit 32 aces in the match, including 17 in the long first set.