LONDON. – Top seed Novak Djokovic raised his level to put an end to the fairytale run of Dutch wildcard Tim van Rijthoven during a battling 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory on Sunday and keep his Wimbledon title defense on track.
Chasing a fourth straight Wimbledon crown and seventh overall at the grasscourt major, Djokovic is now unbeaten on the manicured lawns of the All-England Club since retiring due to an elbow injury against Tomas Berdych in the 2017 quarter-finals.
Djokovic will play Italian 10th seed Jannik Sinner for a place in Friday’s semifinals after the 20-year-old ousted fifth-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the previous contest on Centre Court.
Van Rijthoven was ranked 205th in the world last month and had not even won a Challenger Tour title when he triumphed at the ATP 250 grasscourt event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, defeating world number one Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-1 in the final.
“Very tough. I mean, I have never faced him before and he’s kind of a new face on the tour,” Djokovic said standing on the same lawn that he graced a few hours earlier as part of a parade of former champions to celebrate Centre Court’s 100 years.
“He was on a streak on this surface, and I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy with that serve and a lot of talent, great touch, powerful forehand, he can do a lot of damage. It took me a little bit of time to get used to his pace.”
In women’s play, Ons Jabeur’s hopes of becoming the first African to lift the Rosewater Dish gathered momentum as she edged out Belgian Elise Mertens 7-6(9), 6-4 in a topsy-turvy encounter to reach the quarterfinals for the second year running.
The second-ranked Tunisian, the only seed left in the bottom half of the women’s draw, has been the form player over the opening week of the grasscourt championships as she reached the last eight without dropping a set.
