London (AFP)
Serbian top seed Novak Djokovic continued his march towards his fourth consecutive title at Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam, in the “Grand Slam”, by defeating Dutchman Tim van Riethoven 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, the time The thirteenth in which the Serb reaches this role.
Djokovic is seeking to become only the fourth player to win the English title four times in a row, after the Swede Bjorn Borg, the American Pete Sampras, and the Swiss Roger Federer, and he also wants to win his seventh title in the tournament, to become one title away from the record recorded in Federer’s name.
Djokovic did not find any difficulty in deciding the first set in his favor, but the Dutchman, who has not lost any of his seven matches on grass this season, saluted in the second set, relying on his aces, when he broke his opponent’s serve in the seventh game, to maintain his lead until Its end equaled the numbers, the second set that Djokovic lost in this tournament, after his opening match against South Korean Sun Woo Kwon.
The Serbian caught his breath and won the second set with great ease, 6-1, before breaking his opponent’s serve twice in the fourth, and emerged victorious in two hours and 40 minutes.
The battle between the two promising youngsters, Italian Yannick Sener (20 years old) and Spaniard Carlos Alcaras (19 years), ended with the first victory 6-1, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, and reaching the quarter-finals as well. Sener faces a difficult match in the round Next with Djokovic.
“It’s one of my best results, I didn’t expect that because I don’t play well on grass,” Sener said.
Sinner is participating in Wimbledon for the second time and he was eliminated from the first round last year, but he reached the quarter-finals of a major tournament twice, specifically at Roland Garros in 2020 and the Australian Open earlier this year, without overtaking him both times, and he had not achieved any victory on the courts. Herbal before the current version of Wimbledon.
As for Alcaras, who emerged in the limelight in the first section of the current season, he was participating for the second time in Wimbledon after his exit from the second round last year.
Veteran Belgian David Goffin beat American Frances Tavoye 7-6, 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 in the longest match at Wimbledon this year, which took 4 hours and 36 minutes to reach the quarter-finals. He hit 18 aces to pass Tavoy, ranked 23 in the world, and Govan will meet in the next round, Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who defeated American Tommy Ball 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
Tunisian Anas Jaber, ranked second in the world, continued her progress easily in the tournament, by defeating Belgium’s Elise Mertens 7-6, 6-4, and reached the quarter-finals.
The Tunisian has not lost any group so far in the tournament, and she is playing it in high spirits, after she was crowned champion in the Berlin tournament on grass courts on June 19.
Jaber said, “I faced a strong competition that I always find difficult against her, and I made double efforts in the decisive round “in the first group”, because I did not imagine going into three sets with her.”
Jaber has not lost a match on grass this season, and she said in this regard, “It is great to play on grass for me, I enjoy it, I hope to continue my series, I love playing on grass and I want to continue until the final.”
Czech Marie Bozkova reached the quarter-finals for the first time in a major tournament, by defeating France’s Caroline Garcia 7-5, 6-2.
The 23-year-old Czech benefited from Garcia’s 24 direct errors in the match, compared to only 4 for her opponent, who had never gone beyond the second round in any of her previous 13 appearances in major tournaments.
The world number 66 commented on her track at Wimbledon, saying, “I do not know how I got here,” that is, to the quarter-finals, where she faces Anas Jaber.
Garcia, who was crowned last month with her first title since 2019 with her victory in the final of the German championship Bad Homburg over Canadian Bianca Andreescu, wished to repeat the scenario of 2017, when she reached Roland Garros to her first and last quarter-finals in the major tournaments, but her career in Wimbledon He stopped at the fourth floor for the second time out of nine posts.
German Tatiana Maria, 34, ranked 103rd in the world, surprised by eliminating former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko, by defeating her 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, knowing that she had fallen 1-4 in the second set and saved two balls that were likely to lose the match.
This is the first time that Maria has reached the quarter-finals in the English championship, knowing that she participated in it for the first time in 2007, and she has never crossed the third round in any of the Grand Slam tournaments also during her career.
“I am very proud to be a mother, it is the most beautiful feeling in the world,” said Maria, who returned to the field less than a year ago after giving birth to her second child.
“I love my children, doing both (bringing them up and playing the game), this is something special,” she added.
Maria will next meet her compatriot Jules Niemeyer, who beat Britain’s Heather Watson 6-2 6-4.
#Djokovic #fourth #fourth