NOVAK Djokovic added another chapter to his Wimbledon legacy today as the Serb fought past Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6(6) 6-3 3-6 6-3 to earn a record 106th match victory at the All England Club and reach another quarter-final.
The victory moved Djokovic clear of his retired rival Roger Federer on the men’s all-time match wins list at the grass court Grand Slam.
The seventh seed will now have another piece of history in his sights as he bids to equal the Swiss great’s haul of eight Wimbledon titles.
Also in pursuit of a standalone 25th Grand Slam trophy, the 39-year-old Djokovic has steadily gained momentum on the famous lawns of southwest London and heads into the last eight having again shown his knack for navigating danger.
Also today, women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out in the fourth round by an inspired Naomi Osaka with the Japanese player blazing to a 6-2 7-6(2) win on Centre Court to blow the women’s draw wide open.
With eight Grand Slam titles between them, the blockbuster duel topped the Day Seven bill but it ended up lacking the expected fireworks as 14th seed Osaka dominated.
Sabalenka was left screaming in frustration during a 32-minute opening set as her power game misfired.
The second set was more like the high-octane contest the crowd had expected but a serene Osaka stayed cool to snap Sabalenka’s streak of 21 unbeaten tiebreaks in Grand Slams and claim her biggest win since returning to the Tour in 2024 following the birth of daughter Shai.
After netting a backhand on match point, world number one Sabalenka took her anger out on a ball, blasting it high out of the Centre Court.
Osaka’s win not only took her into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the first time, it left the women’s draw intriguingly poised heading into week two with no clear favourite. Next she will face 10th seed Karolina Muchova whose win over fellow Czech Barbora Krejcikova guaranteed a ninth successive first-time women’s champion at the All England Club.
Muchova snuffed out the Wimbledon hopes of friend and 2024 champion Krejcikova, winning 7-5 5-7 6-3 in a tight battle for Czech supremacy and a place in the quarter-finals.
Muchova, 29, used her athletic game of precise volleys, delicate drop-shots and searing cross court winners to overcome Krejcikova, at 30 just eight months older than Muchova, and now ranked 38th in the world.
Iva Jovic is regarded as the leader of a new generation in American women’s tennis but today at Wimbledon she was handed a reality check by compatriot Jessica Pegula who used all her experience to cut the teenager down to size on Court One.
The 32-year-old Pegula said beforehand she had expected the 18-year-old Jovic to come at her hard and so it proved, but after a scrappy first set, she won 4-6 6-3 6-1 to reach the quarter-final and equal her best Wimbledon run.
Reuters
