Daniil Medvedev’s victory in the fourth round Wimbledon match over the Czech Jiri Legechka allowed the Russian men to set a new national record at the English Grand Slam tournament. For the first time in Wimbledon history, three representatives of Russia in the men’s singles were able to enter the quarterfinal stage at the same time. The day before Medvedev, Roman Safiullin and Andrey Rublev also placed in the top eight.
Like Medvedev, the 25-year-old Rublev also reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time in his life. Building on this success, the Moscow native has now been in the top eight on all four of his career helmets. At the same time, Andrey never made it to the semifinals of the TBSh. In the previous seven quarterfinals he’s played in Melbourne, Paris and New York, he’s won just two sets total.
The last time Andrej played in the TBS quarterfinals was this January against Serbian phenom Novak Djokovic. Six months ago, the 36-year-old native of Belgrade did not leave the Russian the slightest chance, inflicting an absolute defeat on the Muscovite – 6: 1, 6: 2, 6: 4. Rublev was nervous, angry, he appealed a lot to the judge at the tower, but failed to turn the tide of the meeting and impose resistance to the Slams record holder.
Related Materials
Photo
Furious anger, mate and complaints to the judge about Novak. Rublev failed the match with Djokovic in AO-2023
After 6.5 months, the paths of Andrey and Novak crossed again in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournament. Now on the courts of Wimbledon, where Djokovic has not met anyone like him in the last four tournaments. After defeating Poland’s Hubert Hurkach, the 36-year-old Serb moved to third place in Wimbledon history, extending the current winning streak to 32 matches. Djokovic surpassed the feat of the American Pete Sampras (31) and continued to chase the Swiss Roger Federer (40) and the Swede Bjorn Borg (41).
But even more impressive is Novak’s run on Center Court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The last time on the main court at Wimbledon, Djokovic suffered a defeat 10 years ago, in 2013, when in the final match in three sets he lost to local favorite Andy Murray of Britain. Since then, the Serb has never lost in London on Center Court, and it was here that he had to face Rublev.
Related Materials
“Rublev is reaching a new level!” How can Andrey beat Djokovic at Wimbledon?
“10 years undefeated on Center Court? Every victory increases my confidence. I hope our romance will continue for a long time,” Djokovic said after yesterday’s win over Hurkac.
Compared to his opponent, the young Rublev had an extra day to recover. Andrey fully played his match of the fourth round the day before yesterday, when in five games in a bitter fight he broke the resistance of the representative of Kazakhstan Alexander Bublik-7: 5, 6: 3, 6: 7, 6: 7, 6: 4.
Djokovic had much less luck on Sunday. In addition, there was no fault of the Serb. He won two straight sets from Hurkach in tiebreaks, after which a curfew came in London, with the finale of the match adjourned to the next day. On Monday, Novak had to put in a remarkable effort to finish off the inflexible Pole. The 31-year-old Hurkach even won a set against the Serb, but in the fourth installment, Djokovic still found a way for the first time in a match to take the opponent’s most difficult serve and close out the match.
Related Materials
Rublev will play Djokovic at Wimbledon! The phenomenal Serb has already knocked down Sampras’ achievement
“Match with Rublev? He doesn’t have the same game as Hubert. Very powerful and fast shots from the baseline, he holds it tight. One of the best forehands on the circuit. I won’t talk much about tactics, sorry. I’ll leave it to myself. Rublev has been in the top 10 for a long time, he wants to reach the semifinals of the Slam for the first time. I hope this doesn’t happen”, Novak shared his expectations of the next meeting in England.
It is curious that just before the match, in an interview with the main British media, the Serbian champion said that the 25-year-old Muscovite is his daughter Tara’s favorite tennis player. According to Novak, she is the number one choice Russian athlete for a girl who was born in 2017.
“Yes, yes, she is your fan. I can’t wait to get home and discuss this with her. She doesn’t really follow tennis much. But she likes Andrew. She likes her headband, her energy, her power. Yes, this is her No. 1 pick. But I hope dad comes to the fore today,” Djokovic was quoted as saying by the BBC.
So Novak, in the event of a victory over Andrei, had to upset his son a little. However, in the first set, the Russian tennis player gave a pleasant surprise, having managed to impose a desperate and successful battle on the starting rival. To begin with, in the sixth game, Rublev went through the most difficult test, having managed to hold serve from three break points. And then the Russian himself from the first break point took Djokovic’s serve in the ninth game and then put an end to the game – 6:4.
At this time, many probably remembered the quarterfinals that Novak held recently this year on the courts of Roland Garros with another Russian – Karen Khachanov. Then another Muscovite also took the first set from Novak, and with exactly the same score (6:4), after which Djokovic, with a successful tie-break in the second game, managed to turn the match around 180 degrees. . Then, after an embarrassing set loss, Khachanov could no longer resist the future French Slam winner, in light of which the next two sets turned into a walk for Novak.
This time, Djokovic decided not to delay in making a radical change in the game before the tie-break. Already 10 minutes after the start of the second set, Novak led with a confirmed break – 3:0. A perfectly executed short cut helped the Serb win back another’s serve, which Rublev didn’t have time to recover. In the third game, the Russian was able to quickly return to the set, but early on, a perfect serve in the center helped Novak remove the first break point, and in the second, Andrey himself made a great breakdown from the line of background.
Having held his game since two break points, Djokovic became even more inspired, while Rublev ended up in a prolonged game crisis. The Russian tennis player began to literally disrupt one draw after another, making a large number of his own mistakes. And in such a situation, finishing the game with victory was nothing more than a matter of technique for Novak. Literally for half an hour, the Serb took the set with a devastating score – 6:1.
Related Materials
Live
Rublev lost to Djokovic in four sets! Safiullin also leaves Wimbledon
Having missed most of the game, Rublev was back in contention from the start of the third set. In it, he was even the first to break points in the second game, but a stable combination of a strong serve in one corner and a subsequent powerful transfer to another helped Novak to survive at the beginning of the game – he played a double . break point in exactly the same way.
Retribution for the missed opportunity to lead with a break followed immediately. In the fifth game, the Serb gave a whole series of very successful tricks, which again and again put Andrei in a difficult position. And if at the beginning of the game Djokovic still had to somehow develop the captured initiative, then at the break point Rublev made a mistake with the first blow after a hard and tight reception of the Serb.
In the tenth game, our athlete had three more single break points, but starting from the second game, the Serb returned them with 100% probability. And this time he was not without a share of luck. At the second break point, the Serb had a second serve, and almost hit a double, but the ball after hitting the wire still sank into the square. Andrei made desperate efforts on the reception and forced the Serb to serve for 13 (!) minutes in a row, but Novak did not allow the Russian to restore the balance in the game and hit a reverse break, ending the set to win – 6:4.
Related Materials
Stories
Djokovic surpassed Medvedev in prize money this year: how much the TSH record holder earned in total
If Andrei managed to score for five in the third set, then the fight in the match could reach a new level. But the subjunctive mood in sports does not exist. Moving forward in sets, Novak immediately broke the Russian even at the beginning of the fourth installment, after which, on the basis of class and experience, he brought the matter to a victorious end for himself – 4: 6, 6: 1. , 6:4, 6:3. Unlike the January match in Australia, in the English capital, Andrey was able to put up some decent resistance to Novak at times, but the result was the same: Djokovic’s victory and his entry into the TBS semifinals.
Thus, the winner of the Australian Open – 2023 and the champion of Roland Garros – 2023 extended the winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments this season to 19 matches. Novak’s total winning streak in TBSH, taking into account his title at Wimbledon-2022 (and the Serbs were not allowed at the US Open-2022) is now 26 matches. As for the 36-year-old Djokovic’s winning streak, exclusively at Wimbledon, it now stands at 33 fights.
With such a phenomenal performance, the Serbian is approaching the semifinals of the English Slam, where on July 13 he will play eighth seed Yannick Sinner. Earlier, the 21-year-old Italian in the quarterfinals also knocked out defending Wimbledon’s Russian breakthrough Roman Safiullin in four sets. For Yannick, the next semifinal will be the first in the capital of England, for Novak – already 12. In total, the Serb reached the semifinals of the Grand Slam tournament for the 46th time, repeating Federer’s record.
Related Materials
Thanks Roman! Safiullin lost in 1/4 of Wimbledon, but will recover 49 places in the ranking
