Djokovic untroubled by Gulbis

 

Originally published on 08/07/17 00:00

The No.2 seed has extended his winning run to seven matches and his performance against the Latvian was exceptional. The 30-year-old made a tentative start but he was rarely troubled from the moment he nicked a compelling opening set.

“I’m delighted with my performance today,” said the three-time winner. “I raised my level of tennis compared to the first couple of matches and it was the most focused I’ve been on the court. Gulbis presents a great challenge because he is very unpredictable and he’s got a huge serve.

“It’s not easy to play a big server on grass and he started very well. He was a break ahead but I managed to win seven or eight games in a row, which gave me a lot of confidence."

Djokovic would have expected to meet Gael Monfils in the fourth round however he will play another Frenchman instead. Adrian Mannarino secured a 7-6(3) 4-6 5-7 6-3 6-2 win over the No.15 seed to ensure his presence in the second week.

Grigor Dimitrov will also be involved on Monday. The Bulgarian had dropped just two games in the first two sets before his rival, Dudi Sela, retired injured.

‘Early in the match I couldn’t tell you if he was injured on not,” said Dimitrov after his brief time on court. “I was just trying to be focused out there and play my game. After the first set my confidence was getting pretty high and I was bit more locked in.”

Last year’s finalist, Milos Raonic, continues to enjoy the surroundings in SW19. The Canadian did not face a single break-point as he defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(3) 6-4 7-5 on No.1 Court.

After the match, Raonic said: “I created plenty of opportunities today but didn’t always make the most of them. Hopefully I can continue to execute better and better throughout the matches. I didn’t really face issues any issues on my serve and when it comes to grass, that was a pretty clean match.”

Elsehwere on the grounds, Sam Querrey downed No.12 seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in a dramatic match that was played over two days. The contest was halted on Friday evening due to dwindling light and the Frenchman was serving to maintain his interest in the competition on the resumption.

Five minutes after the restart, the players were exchanging pleasantries at the net. Tsonga failed to cling on to his serve and Querrey scored an impressive 6-2 3-6 7-6(5) 1-6 7-5 victory.

“I told myself to try to be aggressive. In the last game I had a little bit of the house money since I was returning first and I kind of had a game to play with. I think that helped,” said the American. “Grass is probably my favourite surface. Wimbledon is my favourite tournament and this is the first time in my career I’ve made the second week back-to-back.”

Tomas Berdych is also safely through after a 6-3 6-4 6-3 triumph over David Ferrer. Alexander Zverev was also a winner as he defeated Sebastian Ofner for the loss of just ten games.

Dominic Thiem was the last man to secure a berth in the round of sixteen. The Austrian defeated Jared Donaldson 7-5 6-4 6-2 in an entertaining contest. 'It's been a great three round for me," said the 23-year-old. "I was a little bit tight in the beginning today as I saw a chance to reach the second week for the first time.The longer the match went on, the better I played, so I'm happy with my performance."

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