WIMBLEDON.- Novak Djokovic gained confidence on his way to an eighth Wimbledon title by beating Dane Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Monday in the round of 16, a round where Alexander Zverev fell to Taylor Fritz.
The German was the most illustrious elimination in the round of 16 in the men’s draw, where on Sunday the Italian Jannik Sinner (1st) and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (3rd) had qualified for the quarter-finals.
Djokovic had a more comfortable match than in previous rounds and this time he was able to accomplish the mission without losing a set.
In both the second and third rounds, against the British Jacob Fearnley (277th) and the Australian Alexei Popyrin (47th) respectively, the Serbian had lost one of the heats and had gone through moments of doubt.
This time everything worked out better for him and it was precisely when the tournament started to get serious and he was facing a player who is 15th in the world.
After his victory, ‘Djoko’ was critical of what he considered to be a lack of respect from part of the fans during the match.
“To all the fans who have been respectful tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate it. To those who have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me, have a gooooood night,” said the tennis player, parodying one of the chants heard.
In the quarterfinals he now faces Australian Alex De Miñaur (9th).
The big surprise:
In the most spectacular clash of the day at the All England Club, Zverev squandered a two-set lead to end up losing in five sets to Fritz, 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) and 6-3.
Fritz (26 years old), who had already been a quarter-finalist at the All England Club in 2022, will face Italian Lorenzo Musetti (25th) in that round.
Zverev, runner-up at Roland Garros in June, has never made it past the round of 16 in his eight appearances at Wimbledon, the Grand Slam tournament he is most comfortable at.
Zverev played on Monday with a brace on his left leg after injuring it during his third-round match against British player Cameron Norrie.
“I felt like he was moving less in the fifth set because of his knee,” admitted Fritz after the match, who spent some time talking to Zverev at the net after the match.
“This is a dream, coming back after losing two sets, on Centre Court. Despite being down two sets to zero, I felt like I was playing well, so I focused on winning the third set and then I took each set one by one, confident that I could win them,” explained the Californian tennis player.
