The Serb was leading Hurkacz by two sets when their duel was postponed due to the midnight time limit
MADRID, 9 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic put his qualification for the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon tournament on track this Sunday, the third ‘Grand Slam’ of the season and which is played on grass, after winning by a double 7-6 (6) to the Pole Hubert Hurkacz when their round of 16 duel was suspended as it touched the midnight time limit.
On the Center Court of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, and again having his ups and downs with part of the crowd, Djokovic faced two intense sets against a tough opponent. Without seeing any ‘break’ balls in the opening round, Hurkacz faltered at the most inopportune moment and wasted three set points in sudden death.
The Balkan went from 3-6 to 8-6 there, clinching that first set after 46 minutes of rallying. At the beginning of the next set, the dynamics hardly changed, but Djokovic did have a break option in the fourth game (2-2) and especially four more in the eighth (4-4). The Pole reacted and forced another ‘tie-break’, under threat of suspension.
Djokovic handled the tension of the environment and the stopwatch well. Despite going 4-5 down and having his rival serve two times to close the set, the man from Belgrade brought out the best version of him and displayed a range of key shots. After winning the second set, at 25 minutes to midnight, the tournament organization postponed the match until this coming Monday.
Whoever comes out the winner will play against the Russian Andrey Rublev, executioner of the Kazakh Alexander Bublik by 7-5, 6-3, (6) 6-7, (5) 6-7 and 6-4 after three hours and 20 minutes. The Russian was able to get his ticket to the next round earlier, as he enjoyed two match points in the tenth game of the fourth set. However, Bublik came back and squeezed his opponent.
On the same side of the men’s singles draw, the Italian Jannik Sinner and the Russian Roman Safiullin will face each other, after respectively beating the Colombian Daniel Elahi Galán (7-6[4]6-4 and 6-3 in two hours and 40 minutes) and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (3-6, 6-3, 6-1 and 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes).
On the other side of the table, the round of 32 match between the American Frances Tiafoe and the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, which had been suspended during the day on Saturday due to rain, was completed. In an hour and 41 minutes of accumulated time, the Bulgarian finished off his rival by a resounding 6-2, 6-3 and 6-2.
THE YOUNGEST ANDREEVA STOPS STRONG
Meanwhile, in the women’s individual draw, another pending duel of the sixteenth was consummated. The very young Russian Mirra Andreeva won it 6-2, 7-5 against her compatriot Anastasia Potapova, in just over an hour and a half. With just turned 16, Andreeva is the new child prodigy on the WTA circuit and will face the American Madison Keys.
Regarding the round of 16, a duel between the Czechs opened the day, with a victory for Marketa Vondrousova over Marie Bouzkova by 2-6, 6-4 and 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes. Vondrousova will now face the American Jessica Pegula, who beat the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-3 in one hour and 13 minutes.
In the other half of the table, the Polish Iga Swiatek and the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina were cited for the quarterfinals, thanks to their respective victories against the Swiss Belinda Bencic ([4]6-7, 7-6[2] and 6-3 in more than three hours) and the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (2-6, 6-4 and 7-6[9] in two hours and 49 minutes).