Djokovic makes winning start in Eastbourne

Originally published on 28/06/17 00:00

The world No.4, making a rare appearance at a pre-Wimbledon event, looked sharp and focused throughout his first grass-court outing since he suffered a surprise defeat to Sam Querrey at the All England Club last summer.

The match was due to take place on Tuesday however there was only eight minutes of action before the rain began to fall and play was delayed.

A solitary break in both sets was all the Serbian required to secure a routine victory and he will play Donald Young, who defeated Jared Donaldson 6-4 7-5, in the last eight on Thursday.

After his first win since he suffered defeat to Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals of the French Open, Djokovic said: “It’s obviously the first grass-court match for me this year and I haven’t played any lead up events prior to Wimbledon in seven years – so I wanted to switch things around a little.

“I’ve not had too many matches this year so I thought I wanted to get a couple of matches this week. Tomorrow is going to be another match so I will keep going. Wimbledon is just around the corner but all my focus is on this week.”

Elsewhere at the Aegon International, Daniil Medvedev defeated Querrey 6-3 7-5 and Mischa Zverev overcame Ryan Harrison 6-4 7-6(9). There were also victories for Richard Gasquet and Dusan Lajovic. 

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