Wimbledom: Novak Djokovic Reaches 14th Quarter-final, Beats Hubert Hurkacz

 

Novak Djokovic, he returned from curfew-delay from Sunday night to beat Hubert Hurkacz in four-set in what was his 100th Wimbledon match and advanced to the quarter-finals. 

Before the curfew, the seven-time champion had played a record 13th consecutive Grand Slam tiebreaks in a single year and the round victory completed his 32nd consecutive win at Wimbledon to advance to his 14th quarterfinal at the event. 

Djokovic described Hurkacz as a "different player" and given his reasons he mentioned the Polish has "quick groundstrokes, stays close to the basline" and on top of that his "forehand" is amongst the best.

Coming out to win in four sets for the second seed was met with resilience upon their return from curfew on Monday afternoon. He dropped the third set to Hurkacz before he rallied to win in 7-6 (6), 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-4. 

"He's got one of the best served in the world," Djokovic praised his opponent. "Playing on the quickest surface it really favours the big servers so it was not really an enjoyable match for me."

Hubert converted a break point for a set-point as Djokovic netted a forehand return. In the decider, the Serbian won his only break point of the match at 3-3 as Hurkacz slid over his overhead slam shot. He later won a matchpoint on the Polish unforced backhand return. 

Djokovic is vying for a record-leveling eighth title at Wimbledon, and should he get through, he would also become most Grand Slam winner with 24 title equaling record set by retired Australian women's player, Margaret Court. In his next match, he will face Russian player, Andrey Rublev.