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 Di Minaur on Monday.
The 38-year-old Serb started abysmally and lost the opening set in 31 minutes but eventually gained control of a cagey battle to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 to keep alive his quest for a 25th Grand Slam title.
With Roger Federer watching from the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men’s titles Djokovic is trying to equal, Djokovic’s usually surgical game misfired badly early on.
The hustling and bustling Di Minaur continued to cause Djokovic headaches after that but the sixth seed 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 Di Minaur jumped into a 4-1 lead in the fourth set but the Serb slammed the door shut just in time, winning five games in a row to take his place in the last eight.
Bencic in first QF with win over Alexandrova
Belinda Bencic defeated No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach her first-ever Wimbledon quarterfinal, and her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since becoming a mother, in 1 hour and 57 minutes here on Monday.
Just two weeks ago, the Swiss star had managed to win only three games in a heavy defeat to Alexandrova in Bad Homburg, marking her return from an arm injury. But Bencic turned the tables in emphatic fashion, needing just under two hours to clinch a spot in the last eight.
Bencic, who won the women’s singles gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will now aim to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal in what has already been a remarkable comeback season.
Bencic’s best performance at the Grand Slams is reaching the semifinals of the US Open in 2019. She has also guided Switzerland to the Fed Cup title in 2022 and the Hopman Cup crown in 2018 and 2019.
Sabalenka, Alcaraz and Norrie reach quarters
Women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka and men’s defending champion Carlos Alcaraz both survived tough tests to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals and Cameron Norrie kept alive British singles hopes after surviving a five-set thriller on Sunday.
Sabalenka ruined home favourite Emma Raducanu’s dream in the previous round but had the Centre Court crowd cheering her on as she beat Elise Mertens 6-4 7-6(4) in a high-quality duel.
Wimbledon’s new automated line-calling technology came under fire after an embarrassing malfunction robbed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of a point during her last-16 victory over Britain’s Sonay Kartal on Centre Court.
Spaniard Alcaraz came through a ferocious firefight against Russian 14th seed Andrey Rublev 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 6-4 to stay on course for a third successive title.
The 22-year-old second seed extended his current winning streak to 22 matches and will take on Norrie for a place in the semi-finals after the unseeded Briton soaked up 46 aces from towering Chilean Nicolas Jarry to win a feisty Court One battle 6-3 7-6(4) 6-7(7) 6-7(5) 6-3.
While Alcaraz seeks a Wimbledon hat-trick, Sabalenka is eyeing her first title on the London lawns after missing last year’s tournament with injury and the 2022 edition due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, and the 27-year-old made a fast start against Mertens.