Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic brushed off old opponent Stan Wawrinka’s challenge in their maiden Wimbledon encounter, while world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz was put to the test.
The match didn’t start until 8.40 p.m., an hour later than Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas played on Thursday, but Djokovic won 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7-5) with 14 minutes to spare before the dreaded curfew to advance to the fourth round.
Another one.@DjokerNole equals Pete Sampras' 31 consecutive match wins at #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Q0MhZBhSOy
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2023
The Serbian has now been unbeaten on Centre Court for a decade, with his most recent setback being against Andy Murray on July 7th, 2013.
Djokovic’s 31st successive win at the All England Club matched Pete Sampras’ record, and the seven-time winner said: “He was two points away from extending this match to another day. We knew it was going to be a close game when we arrived on the floor.
“I know I can always play better; I always have a couple of gears up. I’m hoping that as the tournament progresses, I’ll be able to play better and better.”
Djokovic blasted precise groundstrokes into the corners, extracting mistakes from his opponent after hammering exchanges over and again.
Wawrinka’s statistics were not attractive, but it would be unfair to critique the veteran too harshly, aside from a very low first-serve %, considering the onslaught of brilliance on the opposite end.
In the third set, he served considerably better and battled really hard to force a tie-break.
I might fall down. But I will not stay down 👍🏻🌱🎾😅💚🙏🏻#fight #toogood #hardwork #trusttheprocess #wimbledon pic.twitter.com/MY0hj01Ncf
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) July 7, 2023
Djokovic had won his previous 11 Grand Slam tie-breaks, memorably not committing an unforced error in six at the French Open. That record was threatened here when Wawrinka went ahead 5-3, but he was unable to take the match to a second day because Djokovic had already secured a meeting with Hubert Hurkacz.
“His serve is extremely powerful and he covers the court very well,” Djokovic said of his next opponent, the 17th seed from Poland. He has very long arms and a great feel for the net.”
“He’s just a very complete player overall. I don’t find many flaws in his game. That will undoubtedly be the most difficult assignment of the tournament for me.
“He’s very at ease playing on grass. He hasn’t dropped a set so far in the tournament, and he defeated [Roger] Federer here a few years back. It’s going to be a fierce war. “I’m looking forward to it.”
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