Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the ninth consecutive time – it is his 17th appearance in the last eight in London. Against Safiullin, ranked 132nd in the world, who also stood in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2023, the Serb showed an inconsistent performance and was visibly dissatisfied with himself.
In the first set, Safiullin missed two set points at 5-2, conceded a break and lost the tiebreak. Djokovic improved in the second set, struggled with many errors in the third and received a warning. Safiullin reduced the deficit and won his first set against the Serbian star in their fourth meeting, but Djokovic stayed calm and secured the historic victory after nearly three and a half hours.
In the quarter-final, Djokovic will face Canadian world number four Félix Auger-Aliassime or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Spain. Djokovic is unbeaten in 33 Grand Slam matches against qualifiers.
Source: www.spiegel.de
