Posted in: 01/07/2022 – 18:20
London (AFP) – Serbian Novak Djokovic, the first seed and defending champion, did not find any difficulty in reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam in tennis, as did Tunisian third seed Anas Jaber, who reached the same round.
Djokovic, whose only hope for Wimbledon is a big title this season, beat him from the quarter-finals of Roland Garros, and before that he was deported from the Australian Championship for not receiving the vaccine, which will also prevent him from participating in Flushing Meadows unless there is a change in New York laws, on his compatriot. Miomir Kitsmanovic 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes, to reach the fourth round for the fifth time in a row at Wimbledon, the winner of the title of the past three editions, and the fourteenth in his career.
Djokovic raised the number of his victories in the All England courts to 24 in a row and to 82 in total, consolidating the record in the major championships that he achieved in the first round when he achieved his eighty victory.
Djokovic needed only 24 minutes to win the first set clean after he broke his compatriot’s serve in three games, but he faced greater resistance in the second set, in which he dominated the equalizer until the sixth game, when the defending champion made the difference by snatching the service of Kitsmanovic to advance 5-3, before deciding it He was sent 6-3 in 44 minutes.
In the third set, Djokovic did not wait until the eighth game to create the difference, but achieved that in the third game and then repeated it in the seventh game to advance 5-2, but he returned and lost his serve in the next game for the first time in the meeting, before taking advantage of his serve in the tenth game, Finishing the set 6-4 in 44 minutes as well.
Realizing that participation in Flushing Meadows is outside the accounts unless there is an unlikely change by the American authorities regarding the vaccine, Djokovic will try hard to win Wimbledon for the seventh time and equalize the American number Pete Sampras, knowing that the Swiss Roger Federer holds the record (8). .
What increases Djokovic’s desire to win the Wimbledon title is that he will join only three players who have won the English Championship four times in a row, they are Bjorn Borg, Sampras and Federer.
But the Serbian faces a not easy test in the fourth round, where he meets Dutchman Tim van Riethoven, who continued his adventure in his first participation in the “Grand Slam” by defeating Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
The 25-year-old is participating in the English championship by invitation, and he has previously only participated in two ATP tournaments in 2016 in Winston-Salem and this year before the English championship when he dropped the Russian world number one Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Sohertokhonbos tournament Dutch and crowned the title.
Jaber without difficulty too
Like Djokovic, the world’s second-ranked Jaber did not find it difficult to reach the fourth round, by defeating Frenchwoman Diane Barry 6-2, 6-3.
Jaber, the third seed in the tournament, needed 68 minutes to overcome the obstacle of her opponent and set up a date in the next round with the twenty-fourth Belgian Elise Mertens, who in turn defeated 15th German Angelique Kerber 6-4 7-5.
And Jaber hit hard at the beginning of the match and advanced in the first set 5-0 before finishing it in her favour, 6-2 in 39 minutes.
The Frenchwoman showed resistance in the second set and imposed a 3-3 tie before Jaber broke her serve in the seventh game and advanced 4-3 and then won the next two games and ended it in her favour in 29 minutes.
“I played a good match, it is not easy to play against young talents,” such as Barry, who is 19 years old, said Jaber.
The Tunisian, who has not lost any group in three matches so far, added, “She started well in the tournament that was allocated to her well-prepared in Berlin,” referring to her crowning in the German capital on June 19, the second for her on grass courts in her professional career after First in Birmingham English last year.
Jaber reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year, her best result in the major tournaments, in addition to reaching the same role in the Australian Open in 2020.
On the other hand, Greece’s Maria Skari, the fifth, joined the list of women who left the tournament early, such as the Estonian Anett Kontaveit, third in the world, the British Emma Radukano, the champion of Flushing Meadows, and the Spanish Garbine Mugurosa, the champion of 2017, by falling in the third round against German Tatiana Maria, the 103rd in the world 3-6, 5-7 .
The 26-year-old’s node continued with the All-England stadiums, as she had never crossed the third round in six participations, while she reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows last year, in addition to the price of the Australian Open in 2020 and 2022.
On the other hand, Maria reached the fourth round for the first time in a major tournament, and she will face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals a year later, defeating Romanian Irina Bego 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
© 2022 AFP