July 07, (THEWILL) – Defending champion of the Wimbledon major Novak Djokovic kept up with his streak of victories as he moved into the semi-final at the 2021 All England Club Championships with a straight-sets 6-3 6-4 6-4 win in his quarter-final match against Marton Fucsovics on Wednesday.
The Serb reached his 10th Wimbledon semi-final with the victory that leaves him only two wins away from his third straight Grand Slam title and record-equalling title haul with his other two tennis greats of Swiss Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal of Spain.
The world number one player recorded 23 winners and four aces against the Hungarian Fucsovics to mark his 19th straight triumph at Wimbledon. To trace the last time he lost at the quarter-finals stage of SW19 would be to go as far back as when he retired due to injury in the 2017 competition against Czech Player Tomas Berdych.
On the other hand, this was a debut major quarter-finals appearance for the world number 48 player from Hungary. In his three previous attempts, Fucsovics had never been able to go beyond the second round at Wimbledon. He did not look capable of advancing with 31 unforced errors and five double faults against the best in the world.
With that sort of play, Djokovic steamrolled through Fucsovics by taking the first five games of the match. However, from that point, after the initial nerves had settled and the Hungarian found his rhythm, it was a more competitive encounter all the way to the third set.
Each player took their serves in the second set through the first eight games until the 19-time Grand Slam champion broke his opponent’s serve to inch ahead before serving out the set in the subsequent game to win 6-4 and go two sets up.
It was getting more competitive and the third set showed it when Fucsovics got four break points to get back on level terms after losing his opening service game. That gave an inkling of his potential, but he did not build on that allowing Djokovic the opportunity to snuff out the chance, hold on to his serve and take it through for another 6-4 set win.
Djokovic was not at his most efficient but the 34-year-old is at a level of his game that even after posting 30 unforced errors and three double faults in the match, he still delivered when in the clutch to avoid any unexpected drama in the quarter-finals and keep his defense on track.
Up next for the Serb will be whoever qualifies in the Denis Shapovalov versus Karen Khachanov quarter-finals for Friday’s semi-finals on Centre Court. It keeps a potential Wimbledon final between arch-rivals Federer and Djokovic on the cards.
First though, Federer will have to scale through what is on front of him, which is a quarter-final match against the Polish player Hubert Hurkacz but he will likely watch the match between Djokovic and Fucsovics again as he looks ahead to mount a challenge against the Serb in the final, if they do meet.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
