(Wimbledon) Novak Djokovic, 2nd in the world, took a step closer to a 24th Grand Slam title by beating the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (18th) 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 5 -7, 6-4, Monday after a match interrupted the day before by the curfew.
Posted 10:04 a.m. Updated 12:12 p.m.
“He had an incredible game. I can’t remember the last time I felt so helpless in return of serve, ”commented the 36-year-old Serbian who will face Russian Andrey Rublev (7th) for a place in the semi-finals.
On Sunday evening, Djokovic had just won the second decisive game of the game when the supervisor decided to suspend the game around 10:35 p.m., 25 minutes before the entry into force of the curfew on the tournament.
“I was down 3/6 in the first set tiebreaker and the match could have been quite different if he had won that first set,” admitted Djokovic, unbeaten on Center Court at Wimbledon for ten years. years and his defeat in the final against Andy Murray on July 7, 2013.
When they resumed on Monday, the players very quietly kept their face-offs up to 6-5 for the Pole who then offered himself two set points on Djokovic’s serve and transformed the second.
Faced with the best returner on the circuit, Hurkacz held on thanks to the exceptional regularity of his big serve: 33 aces, 85% of successful first serves in the third set (and 73% over the whole game) and an average on the match of 207 km / h on the first balls.
But in the fourth set, the Pole conceded his very first break of the tournament: Djokovic broke away 4-3 then 5-3 and won by winning his next serve white.
The Serb becomes the third player in history to have played 100 matches at Wimbledon, after Jimmy Connors (102) and Roger Federer (119).
He will play his 14th quarter-final at Wimbledon on Tuesday, like Connors. Only Federer did better (18). In total, it will be his 56th major quarter-final, two lengths from Federer’s record (58).
With this 32nd victory in a row at Wimbledon, where he is undefeated since his defeat in the quarterfinals in 2017 (with 4 titles in the process), Djokovic does better than Pete Sampras’ 31 and only has his sights set on 40. of Federer and the 41 of Björn Borg.
While he was one of the only players to have reached the round of 16 without being affected by the disruption of the program linked to the rain of the first three days, Djokovic will have to continue this time with his quarter on Tuesday.
Rublev, whom he already largely dominated in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January, is a “very different” player from Hurkacz, underlined Djokovic.
“He has one of the biggest forehands on the circuit, he likes to lead the rally… but I’m not going to go into the tactical details”, launched the Serb, in search of a 24th Grand Slam title to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record and an eighth Wimbledon crown to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record.
Medvedev qualified after retirement
Daniil Medvedev, 3rd in the world, took advantage of the abandonment of his Czech opponent Jiri Lehecka (37th) at the end of the second round to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time at Wimbledon.
PHOTO KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daniil Medvedev
Lehecka, who had his right foot treated for blisters at the end of the first set, threw in the towel as the Russian led two sets to nothing (6-4, 6-2).
“I didn’t even know he was injured until he gave up. I had noticed that he didn’t move completely well, but he hit hard! It was when he gave up that with hindsight I understood, ”commented the 27-year-old Russian.
He had never passed the round of 16 at Wimbledon before and will face the American Christopher Eubanks (43rd) for a place in the last four.
“It’s my fifth Wimbledon and I’ve never lost on the N.1 court yet. So I’m going to ask to continue here! “, he launched with humor.
“I’m not big on stats, but Wimbledon is by far my worst Grand Slam tournament in terms of rounds. I now hope to do better than at Roland-Garros,” he said.
On Parisian clay, a surface he loathes, Medvedev’s best result is a quarter-final in 2021. On his favorite surface, hard, he won the 2021 United States Open and played two finals at the United States Open. Australia in 2021 and 2022.
He had reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2021 and had been banned from the tournament in 2022, like all Russian and Belarusian players due to Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine.
Eubanks deprived Tsitsipas of the quarter final
American Chris Eubanks achieved a feat by taking out world number 5, Stefanos Tsitsipas after five superb sets 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
PHOTO DANIEL LEAL, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Christopher Eubanks
It’s a new disappointment for the Greek who never crossed the eighth on the London lawn and who played a third match in five sets, after his already very spectacular victories against Dominik Thiem in the first round and Andy Murray in the second.
Eubanks, on the other hand, continues his meteoric rise at 27 years old.
He who had never passed a second Grand Slam round, never beaten a top 10 player and who only entered the top 100 in April, savored this very special moment as he should.
“I feel like I’m living a dream, it’s crazy […] It’s surreal, I can’t believe it,” admitted the 43rd player in the world after his feat.
“The weird thing about tennis is that you never play your best tennis the whole game, but you play as best you can as much as possible and in the important moments I played well. I had ups and downs, but you pushed me so much to achieve incredible things, ”he added, addressing the conquered audience.
Recent winner on grass in Mallorca, his first title and his sesame to enter the top 50 world, the American giant (2.01 m) hunkered down for three and a half sets before taking advantage of a small drop in speed from the Greek on his serve.
Until 3-3 in the fourth set, Tsitsipas had been literally unplayable on his engagement, passing 65% of first serves and winning 88% of the points on his first serve and 72% on the second.
He had not conceded any break point while getting ten on the opposing service, winning the first and third sets with a score of 6-3.
Unfortunately for him, Eubanks had won the second set tiebreak, his fifth of five in this tournament.
And as soon as Tsitsipas dropped a little on his serve, Eubanks, who played without complex and did not hesitate to claim the support of the public with a lot of gestures, rushed into the breach.
He broke at 4-4 in the fourth set on a double fault by Tsitsipas to win 6-4 and in the fifth he still raced ahead to finish with a cannon cross forehand that left Tsitsipas on the spot.
2023-07-10 16:01:15
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