 | « Back to article | Print this article |
IMAGES from Day 6 of the Wimbledon Championships, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Saturday.
Seven-times champion Novak Djokovic shrugged off a slow start to power past unseeded Australian Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) and into the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday.
The Serb's bid for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title looked under threat when Popyrin took a 4-3 lead with a blistering crosscourt forehand winner and sealed the opening set with a second-serve ace.
Up next for Djokovic is 15th seed Holger Rune, who advanced after a five-set marathon against Quentin Halys, winning 1-6, 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 7-6(7-4), 6-1.
"It was another tough match. I didn't expect anything less than what we experienced on the court today from Alexei," said Djokovic, who was also taken to four sets by Popyrin at this year's Australian Open.
"I know he was going to come to the match with confidence, a lot of self-belief. He was close to winning (when we played) in Australia earlier this year.
"With that serve and powerful forehand, he's dangerous on any surface."
Djokovic was quickly back to his best and normal service was resumed.
Appearing rejuvenated after the roof was closed, Djokovic went 4-1 up in the second set, when fans erupted on Centre Court as news trickled through that England had beaten Switzerland to make the Euro 2024 semi-finals.
The amused second seed simulated a penalty kick that Popyrin pretended to save, to the delight of fans.
Djokovic had little trouble in the second and third sets, but faced more resistance in the fourth as Popyrin dug deep in search of his first win in the pair's third meeting, saving three break points to hold in the 11th game.
After ensuring a tie-break, however, Djokovic switched on the after-burners to close out the win, finishing with a fiery serve that Popyrin could only send into the net.
"I played a good second and third set and the fourth was anybody's game," Djokovic added.
"He was serving very well. It was very difficult to read his serve. It was just a very challenging match, mentally as well to hang in there.
"I'm not allowed to have too big concentration lapses. I think I've done well in that regard in one of the best tiebreaks I've played this year, that's for sure."
Djokovic arrived at Wimbledon weeks after having surgery on his right knee, having injured it at the French Open, but said he was getting better with every match.
"My feeling of movement, confidence particularly extreme balls, reaching, sliding. I definitely got better today than in my second match," he said, referring to his meeting with Briton Jacob Fearnley where he also dropped a set.
"Hopefully the direction or trajectory will keep going in a positive way. Let's see what happens in the next one."
Zverev overcomes injury and Norrie to advance
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev survived an injury scare and an epic third-set tiebreak to beat Britain's Cameron Norrie and match his best Wimbledon run by reaching the fourth round for the third time on Saturday.
The German produced a sensational display of serving to win 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(15) - finally ending Norrie's rugged resistance by converting his sixth match point under the Centre Court roof.
Zverev, 27, dropped only two points on serve in the third set, although one of them was a double-fault that gave Norrie an early advantage in what proved to be a gripping tiebreak.
Norrie had five set points of his own to extend the contest and ask questions of Zverev's knee which he appeared to strain when sliding and falling awkwardly early in the second set.
But Zverev, who struck the ball with clinical precision throughout the contest, never wavered and Norrie cracked first on the 32nd point of the tiebreak, sending a shot over the baseline to end British interest in the men's singles.
Zverev needed regular treatment after injuring his knee while chasing own a drop shot in the fourth game of the second set and appeared hampered at times.
But he showed great focus, serving magnificently and striking his groundstrokes with venom to largely control the contest against the world number 42.
"I do feel like a cow on ice sometimes (on grass)," Zverev, who also beat Norrie in five sets at the Australian Open and leads their Tour head-to-head 6-0, said.
"It is what it is but I managed. I do feel restricted on some of the movements but I will check and see what it is but I'm pleased I was able to play the way that I did. If I'd dropped in my level I would have had no chance against Cam."
Norrie, who beat new British number one Jack Draper in the previous round, could make little impression on Zverev's metronomic serving but got the crowd roaring as he pushed the classy German into the tiebreak in the third set.
An incredible conclusion to the match saw 29 of the first 31 points of the breaker go with serve and it was a case of which player would blink first.
Norrie, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, played his best tennis in the breaker and raised the decibel level when he brought up his fifth set point with an ace.
But Zverev fended that off with a volley and when his next chance came along he took it.
A few more points and it might have broken a Wimbledon tie-break record - that honour still goes to Bjorn Borg, who played a 38-point tie-break against Premjit Lall in 1973.
Medvedev sees off Struff
Last year's Wimbledon semi-finalist Daniil Medvedev endured lengthy rain delays and a fightback from unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff for a 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) victory to reach the fourth round.
The match had ground to a halt a day earlier after Medvedev cruised through the opening two sets and surrendered the third, but the Russian returned to the roofless Court Two on another soggy day and held his nerve to prevail.
A backhand winner on match-point in the fourth-set tiebreak settled the clash, as Medvedev booked a meeting with Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Medvedev made a blistering start to the match winning the opening five games before Struff got on the board thanks to an unforced error, as the fifth-seeded Russian easily closed out the first set with a fiery ace.
World number 41 Struff's chances of a second victory over Medvedev in their seventh tour-level meeting faded further after he lost three straight games towards the end of the second set, having gone toe to toe with his opponent.
With dark clouds hovering in the air, Struff rekindled his hopes by winning a see-sawing third set where Medvedev's level suddenly dipped, before rain stopped two games into the fourth and frustrated the duo again on a stop-start Saturday.
