Ashleigh Barty's bid to win the Wimbledon singles title on the 50th anniversary of fellow indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley's first victory stayed on course on Thursday.
However, Barty produced a far from perfect performance in her 6-4, 6-3 win over Russia's Anna Blinkova as she progressed to a third round meeting with Czech Katerina Siniakova.
"She pushed me incredibly hard," said Barty.
"A few points here and there it could have been a different story."
Barty is seeded to meet this year's French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in the last 16.
Krejcikova brushed aside second round opponent German veteran Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4.
Two fewer seeds will be standing in Barty's way as she looks to add the senior singles title to her 2011 junior Wimbledon win.
Third seed Elina Svitolina, a Wimbledon semi-finalist two years ago, and French Open semi-finalist Maria Sakkari exited in the second round.
"I think mentally today I was not really in a good place," said Svitolina after losing 6-3, 6-4 to Poland's Magda Linette.
Sakkari, the 15th-seeded Greek, lost to Shelby Rogers of the United States 7-5, 6-4
Roger Federer, like Barty, was far from his best in his first round match.
The 39-year-old eight-time champion will play a familiar face, fellow veteran Richard Gasquet who the Swiss legend beat in the 2007 semi-finals.
Gasquet, 35, is not the force of old but Federer too has looked shaky since returning after two knee operations in the past year.
The 39-year-old had problems against Adrian Mannarino in the first round.
They were tied at two sets all when the Frenchman had to retire with a knee injury suffered in a fall towards the end of the fourth set.
Federer, who arrived on the back of a surprise second round exit at the tournament he has made his own Halle, which he has won 10 times, put a rusty performance down to it being the first round.
"I think it's more just about first-round tennis, especially here at Wimbledon," he said.
"If you see what happened to him (Mannarino fell) and you know how difficult and complicated it can be to move sometimes.
"I take it as a regular first round, which there's always pressure there, in my opinion."
Cameron Norrie awaits the winner of the Federer and Gasquet clash after the fast-improving Briton swept aside Australian wildcard Alex Bolt 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.
Norrie joins fellow Britons Dan Evans and two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray in the third round.
It is the first time three British men have reached the third round since 1999, when Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Danny Sapsford reached the last 32.
"Come on Gasquet," joked Norrie.
"If there's a time to play Roger, now's the time I guess, but he's still a decent player."
Coco Gauff makes her first appearance on Centre Court since 2019 when, as a 15-year-old, she won the hearts of spectators with her run from qualifying to the fourth round.
Gauff, now 17, eased through against British wildcard Francesca Jones but a sterner test awaits her in the form of 2016 semi-finalist Elena Vesnina.
Gauff confessed that returning to the grounds where she was arguably the star of the show in 2019, beating Venus Williams along the way to the last 16, had been intimidating.
"I was really nervous going in, my first time back since everything happened in 2019," she said.
Court One spectators will have the pleasure of men's second seed Daniil Medvedev playing promising 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
Medvedev sounds confident he can at last produce a decent run at a tournament where his best performance is two third round showings.
"After Mallorca (his first grass court title which he won last Saturday), I'm feeling super good on grass," said the 25-year-old.
Alexander Zverev, like Medvedev, has yet to flourish at Wimbledon but the German wasted little time in progressing to the third round dismissing Tennys Sandgren, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
The fourth seed could face a closer examination of his skills on grass if big serving American Taylor Fritz beats compatriot Steve Johnson.