Djokovic survives scare against wildcard
Even knowing what an unusual Wimbledon this has been, what with so many unexpected results and new faces popping up, and so few top seeds – and major champions – remaining, surely Novak Djokovic would not lose to a wildcard entry making his grand slam debut, would he?
If it did not quite seem plausible, it did at least become vaguely possible a tad yesterday under the closed roof at Centre Court, when 25-year-old Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven – ranking: 104th; lifetime tour-level victories: eight, all in the past month – had the temerity to smack a 133mph (214kph) ace past Djokovic and tie their fourth-round match at a set apiece.
All of nine minutes later, the time it took Djokovic to grab 12 of the next 15 points, and the next three games, both plausibility and possibility took a hike. Soon enough, the third set was his, and not much later, so was the fourth, and the match, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 result that gave the tournament’s No 1 seed a 25th consecutive grass-court victory at the All England Club and a place in his 13th Wimbledon quarterfinal.
‘‘Novak did his Novak thing,’’ van Rijthoven said, ‘‘and played very, very well. He had all the answers.’’
Beforehand, van Rijthoven had said: ‘‘I’ll go into that match thinking I can win.’’
Might have still had that sense yesterday. If only briefly. ‘‘Whew. I am lucky,’’ Djokovic said after closing the deal.
Djokovic’s pursuit of a fourth consecutive, and seventh overall, title at Wimbledon, not to mention a 21st major championship, will continue tomorrow against No 10 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy.
Sinner reached his first quarterfinal at the All England Club by eliminating No 5 Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 earlier.
The other quarterfinal on their half of the bracket will be No 9 Cam Norrie, of Britain, against unseeded David Goffin, of Belgium. They each advanced by beating Americans: Norrie beat No 30 Tommy Paul 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 to get to his first major quarterfinal, and Goffin edged No 23 Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (3), 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
It’s a unfamiliar collection of players chasing the women’s championship, with just one who has appeared in a grand slam final (two-time major title winner Simona Halep) and just two who were among the top 15 seeds at Wimbledon (No 3 Ons Jabeur and No 4 Paula Badosa).
Jabeur made it to the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the second year in a row with a 7-6 (9), 6-4 victory against No 24 Elise Mertens of Belgium. The other women moving on Sunday are unseeded and in unfamiliar territory, never having been in any major quarterfinal.
Jabeur next plays Marie Bouzkov, of the Czech Republic, while Tatjana Maria, 34, and Jule Niemeier, 22, meet in an all-German quarterfinal.
Bouzkova topped Caroline Garcia 7-5, 6-2, Maria defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 after erasing two match points, and Niemeier beat Heather Watson 6-2, 6-4.