Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 16th time, but it proved a hard day’s work at his Centre Court office as he ground past Australian Alex de Minaur.
The 38-year-old started abysmally and lost the opening set in 31 minutes but eventually assumed control of a cagey battle to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 to keep alive his quest for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title.
With Roger Federer watching from the front row of the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men’s titles Djokovic is trying to equal, the sixth seed’s usually surgical game malfunctioned early on as he dropped serve three times.
The hustling and bustling De Minaur continued to cause Djokovic headaches with his shot-placement and movement, but the Serb found his range to win the next two sets full of attritional baseline rallies.
Even then Djokovic looked like getting dragged into a fifth set as De Minaur jumped 4-1 ahead in the fourth and had a point for a 5-1 lead, but he slammed the door shut just in time, winning five games in a row to take his place in the last eight where he will face Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cabolli.
Djokovic has now won 43 of his last 45 matches at Wimbledon, and not since 2017 has he failed to reach the final.
The two losses were against Carlos Alcaraz in the last two finals, but for half an hour on Monday, it looked as though Old Father Time might finally be catching up with him.
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