LONDON (Reuters) -Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina barely needed to shift out of second gear as the 11th seed motored into the third round of the grasscourt Grand Slam with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Greek Maria Sakkari on Thursday.

Rybakina was gifted a break in the opening game when Sakkari produced three successive double faults and the 2022 Wimbledon champion held firm from there to wrap up the opening set with minimum fuss in front of a sparse crowd on Court One.

The 26-year-old dropped her serve in the opening game of the next set but responded immediately to get things back on track and then broke to love for a 3-1 lead, before proceeding to take apart former world number three Sakkari.

A backhand error on match point compounded Sakkari's woes and Rybakina celebrated the victory in typically muted fashion, with either Denmark's 23rd-seeded Clara Tauson or Russian Anna Kalinskaya awaiting her in the next round.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London; Editing by Ken Ferris)