Djokovic cuts Gulbis to size, reaches fourth round in style
Threetime champion reaches fourth round for the 10th time, to face Adrian Mannarino
LONDON: Three-time champion Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon fourth round for the 10th time on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7/2) win over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Second seed Djokovic will play France’s Adrian Mannarino for a place in the quarter-finals
“I’m delighted with the performance today. I thought I raised the level of tennis,” said Djokovic after making the second week without dropping a set.
“Comparing to the first couple of matches and the last couple of weeks I think this was the most focused I was on the court.”
Gulbis, now ranked at a lowly 589 after once reaching 10 in the world in 2014 when he defeated Roger Federer on his way to the French Open semi-finals, fired 37 unforced errors to Djokovic’s meagre 12. “It’s not easy obviously playing on grass against a big server like that,” said Djokovic of his childhood friend Gulbis.
“I’m very pleased with the way I’ve felt, the way I’ve played.”
WOZNIACKI BACK FROM THE BRINK
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki came within two points of defeat against unseeded Estonian Anett Kontaveit before recovering to win 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2 and reach the fourth round of Wimbledon on Saturday.
The Dane, seeded five, was getting overpowered as she trailed by a set and 3-5 to the powerful Kontaveit but she hung on grimly and turned the match around.
Kontaveit, one of the most dangerous unseeded players in the women’s draw having won the Den Bosch grasscourt title in the build-up to Wimbledon, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and was 30-0 ahead in that game. She missed a routine backhand that would have given her three match points and Wozniacki levelled at 5-5.
World number 38 Kontaveit broke again to lead 6-5 but faltered on serve once more with the winning line so close.
She crumbled in the tiebreak and Wozniacki’s experience paid off in the decider as the Dane moved through to a last-16 clash with hard-hitting American Coco Vandeweghe.
KERBER LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY
If Angelique Kerber hopes to become the first German to win the Wimbledon title since Steffi Graf in 1996, she will have to draw up an emergency game plan as she cannot afford to keep flirting with danger as she did against American outsider Shelby Rogers.
Kerber, who was runner-up to Serena Williams last year, has struggled for form in recent months and lived dangerously for more than two hours on Saturday before eventually securing a fourth-round place with a 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4 victory.
That Kerber eventually landed safely in the fourth round was more down to Rogers’s lack of grasscourt experience than the German suddenly finding her range. Rogers belted down 48 winners compared with just 25 from Kerber but she was eventually undone by her unforced errors -- the final tally totalling 47.
“She was hitting the balls very hard. I was just trying to find my rhythm,” said
Kerber.