London (AFP)
The Serbian Novak Djokovic, ranked second in the world, and the Kazakh Elena Rybakina continued the campaign to defend the title of Wimbledon, the third of the four major tennis tournaments, by reaching the quarter-finals, by defeating the first over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, and the second over Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maya 4-1, then withdrew due to injury.
And Djokovic completed his match against Hurkacz, after it was stopped due to the law banning playing after eleven o’clock at night, and the result was the Serb’s lead, with two clean sets, with one score, 7-6.
Hurkacz managed to settle the third set, after breaking Djokovic’s serve in the twelfth game 7-5, but the Serb saluted in the seventh game of the fourth and advanced 4-3, before ending it 6-4, which is the 14th in which Djokovic reaches the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. And the 56th in the “Grand Slam”, compared to 58 for the Swiss Roger Federer, who holds the record.
It is the Serbian’s 90th victory in 100 matches at Wimbledon, where he seeks the fifth title in a row, and the eighth in the English championship to equal the record in the number of titles held by Federer, and to crown the 24th major title in his professional career, to consolidate his record in the four major tournaments, and equal Australian Margaret Court. In the men’s and women’s singles competitions since 1973.
“Hubert must be congratulated on his great match, he performed a great performance,” said Djokovic, who achieved his 32nd consecutive victory at Wimbledon, and the 43rd on Center Court. The world, and it is difficult to read it on one of the fastest stadiums in sports, it was not fun for me, and I feel a great connection with this “main” stadium, every match I win, and every time I step onto the stadium I feel more confident to play the match, and I hope it continues. Love affair for a long time.
Djokovic, 36, has not lost on Center Court since the 2013 final, and he has not lost at Wimbledon since his fall in the quarter-finals in 2017.
And he meets the owner of 352 wins in the major championships, with Russian Andrei Rublev, the seventh.
Regarding his confrontation, the Serbian said: “He is definitely a different player from Horkacz. His strikes are very strong and very fast. He loves to lead the exchange of balls. I will not talk much about tactical details, I will keep that to myself.”
Spaniard Carlos Alcaras, the first in the world, booked his ticket to the quarter-finals for the first time in his professional career, by defeating Italian Matteo Berrettini, the runner-up of the year before last, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in 185 minutes.
The 20-year-old Spaniard achieved better than his first participation last year, when he was knocked out by the other Italian, Yannick Sinner, and set a date with the sixth Danish Holger Rohne, and the winner over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Russian Daniel Medvedev III untangled his knot at Wimbledon and reached the quarter-finals for the first time, taking advantage of the withdrawal of his Czech rival Jiri Lehicka due to injury. Medvedev won the first and second sets 6-4 and 6-2, respectively, before his opponent withdrew due to a right foot injury.
In the women’s game, Rybakina, third in the world, was satisfied with playing only four games before her opponent, Haddad Maya, withdrew due to a lower back injury.
The 24-year-old will meet in her fourth quarter-final in the major tournaments, with her sixth Tunisian runner-up Anas Jaber, who reached the quarter-finals for the third year in a row, by defeating the ninth Czech Petra Kvitova, twice Wimbledon champion, 6-0, 6-3 in 63 minutes.
Jaber, who reached the first major final in her professional career last year at Wimbledon, hit hard in the first set and settled it cleanly in 22 minutes, after breaking the serve of the 2011 and 2014 champion in the first, third and fifth games.
The Minister of Happiness, who also lost the Flushing Meadows final last year, continued her advantage in the second set, breaking the Czech serve in the third and fifth games and advancing 4-1, but Kvitova responded by saluting in the sixth, narrowing the difference to 2-4 and then 3-4, before Jaber did it for the third time in the set and the sixth in the match, by breaking the Czech serve in the ninth game and settling the set 6-3.
It is Jaber’s second victory over Kvitova in 6 confrontations between them so far, and the Tunisian avenged for her loss against the Czech Republic in the first round of the same tournament in 2019.
Jaber said, “I love every moment that I am here, and you (the fans) have no idea about the energy you bring to me, and I just want to win every match, so that I can see you the next day.”
And about her revenge confrontation with Rybakina, the Tunisian, who fell in the final last year, confirmed by losing the second and third sets with one score 2-6, after winning the first set 6-3, “I will most likely take revenge. It was a difficult final match last year, and it will bring many memories. Jabeur and Rybakina 4 times so far, sharing the win twice each.
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