ATP Tour

Djokovic fends off De Minaur challenge, returns to Wimbledon QFs

Novak Djokovic recovered from a slow start on Monday at Wimbledon, where he battled past Alex de Minaur 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in London for the 16th time.

Last year, De Minaur was forced to withdraw ahead of his quarter-final clash against Djokovic at SW19 due to a hip injury sustained late in his fourth-round win against Arthur Fils.

The Australian dropped just one set en route to the fourth round this year to ensure he would have a crack at Djokovic but he was once again left frustrated. The 26-year-old rolled through the first set but failed to convert break point opportunities when trailing 4-5 in the second set, with Djokovic crucially holding to level. The Serbian limited errors from the baseline and moved the Australian from side to side to lead before he rallied from 1-4 in the fourth set to advance after three hours and 18 minutes.

"I am still trying to process the whole match and what happened on court," Djokovic said. "It wasn't a great start for me, it was a great start for him. He broke my serve three times in the first set. Very windy, swirly conditions on the court. He was just managing better with the play from the back of the court.

"I didn't have many solutions but I managed to reset myself. It was kind of a tough game to close out the second set. Perhaps that was a momentum shift where I just felt like 'OK, I am back in the game'. It was a lot of cat-and-mouse play, a lot of slices and he is so good at it. He is one of the quickest players we have on the Tour and on grass where the ball bounces so low, it is extremely difficult to play someone like him if you are not feeling the ball really well. He exposes all your weaknesses and I was pleased to hang in tough in the right moments."

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Novak Djokovic is a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon once more 👊@Wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/t3GeKTkxtx

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Djokovic defeated countryman Miomir Kecmanovic in the third round to notch his 100th match win at Wimbledon, with only record eight-time champion Roger Federer (105) earning more victories in the men’s singles.

With win 101, Djokovic improved to 25-8 on the season and moved to within three victories of a record-extending 25th major. If he wins the title, he will equal Federer’s record of eight crowns at the grass-court major. The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Federer was watching his former rival from the Royal Box on Monday.

"It was a very difficult encounter, some very challenging moments for me. Sometimes, I wish I had a serve and volley and a nice touch from the gentleman who is standing right there, that would help," Djokovic said with a smile, acknowledging Federer.

Djokovic will next meet Italian Flavio Cobolli after the 22nd seed downed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time.

De Minaur was aiming to advance to the quarter-finals at a major for the sixth time. The World No. 11 soaked up Djokovic’s groundstrokes with his clean ballstriking and demonstrated quick foot speed to track down the Serbian’s drop shots. However, he was unable to hurt the former World No. 1 enough and faded quickly from 4-1 ahead in the fourth set. Djokovic, who has dropped just two sets this fortnight, now leads the Australian 3-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.