Steady Djokovic Pulls Away Late, Awaits Sinner In QFs

With a pair of impressive grass-court win streaks on the line Sunday in the Wimbledon fourth round, Novak Djokovic extended his run to 25 consecutive victories on the surface. He ended the perfect 8-0 grass season of Dutch wild card Tim van Rijthoven with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory on Centre Court to bring the Dutchman's dream Grand Slam debut to a close.

The top-seeded Djokovic was challenged by his opponent's powerful serve and multi-faceted forehand, but showed his championship pedigree by locking down with his baseline game to produce a brilliant response to his second dropped set of the tournament.

[ATP APP]

After van Rijthoven fought off four break points to serve out the second set, sending Djokovic slipping to the turf with well-disguised hitting, the Serbian raced to a 5-0 lead in the third to re-estabish himself as the dominant force in the contest. He made just two unforced errors in the third set as he found his groove on return, eliminating the free points that served to boost van Rijthoven's confidence in the early stages.

Attacking the Dutchman's backhand corner, Djokovic secured an instant break in the fourth set to quell any thoughts of a turnaround. Ever the perfectionist, he let out a roar of frustration after a rare miss later in the set before he closed out the match with ease after two hours, 37 minutes.

Djokovic's 25 straight grass wins — all of which have come at Wimbledon, where he is a three-time defending champion — are second all-time. He broke a tie with Rod Laver with Sunday's result, but still trails Roger Federer's 65 consecutive grass victories, achieved from 2003-08.

The Serbian will seek to extend that win streak on Tuesday against Jannik Sinner. After scoring his first career grass-court win in the opening round, the Italian has started to look at home on the London lawns. He did not drop serve in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3 win over Carlos Alcaraz earlier on Sunday.

Djokovic won the lone previous ATP Head2Head match between the pair 6-4, 6-2 last year at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The Serbian is bidding for his seventh Wimbledon crown and 21st Grand Slam title as he looks to close in on Rafael Nadal's record 22 Grand Slam men's singles trophies.