Wimbledon: Djokovic resists De Minaur challenge to storm into quarterfinals

LONDON: Serbian maestro Novak Djokovic brushed away a slow start and overwhelmed Alex de Minaur of Australia to storm into the quarterfinals for the 16th time at Wimbledon on Monday.

After enduring a setback in the opening set, Djokovic recovered and booked his berth in the final eight with 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a contest that lasted for three hours and nineteen minutes. Last year, De Minaur had to withdraw before his quarter-final clash against Djokovic at SW19 due to a hip injury he sustained in his fourth-round win against Arthur Fils.

De Minaur had dropped just one set en route to the Round of 16, but his run ended on a frustrating note. He steamrolled past Djokovic in the opening set, but the 26-year-old couldn’t convert the break-point opportunities to turn around his fate. The limited errors from Djokovic kept things in his favour in the second and third sets. In the fourth set, he rallied from 1-4 to earn a spot in the quarter-finals.

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“I am still trying to process the whole match and what happened on court. 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”, Djokovic said as quoted from ATP.

“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 there in the right moments”, the Serbian added.

After sealing his 101st victory, the 24-time Grand Slam champion is three victories away from a record-extending 25th title. If Djokovic wins Wimbledon, the 38-year-old will go level with Roger Federer’s tally of eight titles on the grass-court major.

“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. (ANI)