World No 1 comes back from two sets down to beat Kevin Anderson 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5
Novak Djokovic
London: Defending champion Novak Djokovic survived a barrage from big-hitting Kevin Anderson to reach his seventh successive Wimbledon quarter-final yesterday. The top seed came from behind to win 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 in a Last 16 tie suspended due to bad light on Monday at the end of the fourth set.
ADVERTISEMENT
Novak Djokovic celebrates his fourth round win over Kevin Anderson at Wimbledon yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Djokovic sorry for scream
The Serb, who has now reached 25 Grand Slam quarter-finals in a row, goes on to face Croatia’s US Open champion Marin Cilic for a place in the semi-finals. Anderson, the South African 14th seed, fired 40 aces and 71 winners but committed 41 unforced errors.
Djokovic crashed 43 winners past his opponent but hit just 19 unforced errors. After the match, Djokovic apologised for upsetting a ballgirl who looked visibly shaken when he roared at her yesterday. The defending champion was 3-2 down and at 30-30 in the final set when he screamed in the girl’s direction.
“I’m sorry. There was nothing towards her. Maybe she was just afraid of my screaming there,” said Djokovic, who added he was trying to fire himself up in the fifth set decider. “I was pretty close to her. I’m definitely going to try to apologise to her if I did something wrong.”
Earlier this year, the Serbian star had to apologise to a ballboy in Miami after the youngster got caught in the crossfire of a vociferous exchange between the player and his coaching team in the stands during his final win against Andy Murray. — AFP