Andy Murray let his frustrations get the better of him as he was forced to wait to book a third-round berth by determined Frenchman Julien Benneteau on Centre Court.

Murray was caught letting rip with an expletive midway through the second set of his match which stood two sets to one in his favour when play was suspended for failing light.

Murray went on to take the set but had to settle for a 7-6 6-4 4-6 advantage when play ceased.

The Scot is Britain's only remaining representative in the singles events after Jamie Delgado, Martin Lee, Sarah Borwell and Melanie South all bowed out on Thursday.

Delgado put up a decent fight against Sebastien Grosjean, a two-time semi-finalist here, before losing 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Lee, an impressive first-rond winner, had no answer to the game of 22nd seed Jarkko Nieminen and tumbled to a 6-4 6-0 6-3 defeat.

South's fairytale Wimbledon was brought to an abrupt end with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 defeat by Shenay Perry.

It was a disappointing end for South whose Wimbledon debut had seen her stun 11th seed Francesca Schiavone in the first round.

And Borwell's early-evening defeat to 19th seed Ana Ivanovic ended home interest in the ladies' singles.

Borwell was beaten 6-1 6-2.

Defending champion Venus Williams is through to the third round, but only after being given an almighty fright by fellow American Lisa Raymond.

Raymond actually served for the match before Williams turned things around to complete a 6-7 7-5 6-4 victory.

Williams seemed sluggish in the opening stages, and it was only when Raymond took a crucial break in game six of the second set that the three-time champion appeared to wake up.

With Raymond up 5-2 and just two points from a win, Williams began to unleash some of the fearsome strokes that have taken her to five of the past six finals, and won five games in a row to take the set.

Williams continued the onslaught to completely blow doubles specialist Raymond away, who - despite producing the odd winner - looked fairly relieved to escape the Venus barrage when the champion closed out the match.

Williams' relief at getting through was evident afterwards. "It's all about surviving to another day," she said.

"I felt that it would be such a shame to lose in the second round because I am playing so well and serving well.

"I almost met my match today but it's nice to know that she played so well and I was still able to get through it."

Earlier, Rafael Nadal came from two sets down against American qualifier Robert Kendrick to set up a last-32 meeting with Andre Agassi.

The French Open champion found himself in deep trouble after the world number 237 played some inspired tennis in the early stages.

However, Nadal won a crucial third-set tie-break to launch his comeback.

He twice found himself just two points from defeat in the fourth set, but held firm at 5-5, broke in the next game and served out to force a final set.

Kendrick continued to blast down some big serves, but Nadal managed to gain a vital break in the decider and clinched victory after almost four hours on Centre Court.

"It was very tough. He played a very good match, a very complete match," admitted Nadal.

"I play with a very good attitude all the time because it was very tough, so I am very happy with the victory."

Crowd favourite Agassi awaits in the third round on Saturday, but Nadal is not concerned about taking on the fans as well as the 1992 champion.

"I understand perfectly, it is his last Wimbledon. I hope I'm going to have more.

"It is a nice match for me, a nice match for everybody."

Agassi, who has announced he is to retire later this year, saw off Andreas Seppi 6-4 7-6 6-4 in what was always a tight encounter on Court One.

However, Agassi used his experience to play the big points the better, staving off several break points in the closely-contested first two sets.

Meanwhile, Fernando Gonzalez produced a tremendous fightback as Marat Safin became the latest victim of the so-called Champions' Graveyard.

The 10th seed from Chile found himself two sets down to the former Australian and US Open champ on the famous Court Two before launching a fightback which saw him complete a 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 6-4 win in just under three and a half hours.

Rising star Novak Djokovic added another scalp to his impressive CV, defeating 11th seed Tommy Robredo in straight sets.

Gaston Gaudio (16) also bowed out, losing in straight sets to Irakli Labadze, but 13th seed Tomas Berdych survived.

He had levelled his match with Fabrice Santoro at two sets all in the Wednesday evening gloom, saving two match points in the process, and when they returned he took the deciding set 6-4.

There were also routine straight-sets victories for high seeds Andy Roddick and Ivan Ljubicic in the evening sunshine, but Lleyton Hewitt had a real fight on his hands.

Korean Hyung-Taik Lee showed the sort of tenacious tennis usually associated with his opponent to force their second-round match into a fifth set which will have to take place on Friday after bad light halted a thrilling encounter.

Back in the ladies' singles, Maria Sharapova wasted little time in booking her place in the third round.

The 2004 champion cruised past Ashley Harkleroad 6-2 6-2 out on Court Two, the so-called Champions' Graveyard.

It has claimed many a big name in the past, but Sharapova was rarely troubled.

Seeded four this year, Sharapova progressed to a meeting with another American, Amy Frazier.

Top seed Amelie Mauresmo needed slightly longer to reach the last 32, but still had too much know-how for Australia's Samantha Stosur.

The French star went through with a 6-4 6-2 win on Centre Court.

Patty Schnyder became the highest seeded casualty so far.

The eighth seed, another to prefer the claycourts, was beaten in three sets by Severine Bremond, of France.

Meanwhile, Russian stars Elena Dementieva (7), Anastasia Myskina (9) and Dinara Safina (14) all progressed, as did 15th seed Daniela Hantuchova and Flavia Pennetta (16).

But Israeli Shahar Peer, seeded 20, bowed out to China's Shuai Peng and 29th seed Tatiana Golovin was beaten by Australia's Nicole Pratt.