Novak Djokovic ground out a place in the Wimbledon fourth round on Centre Court, surviving a fierce three-hour fightback from France's Arthur Rinderknech to add another entry to his remarkable record book at the All England Club. The seven-time champion won 7-5 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4) to move through to the last 16 and, in doing so, equalled Roger Federer's men's record for the most singles match wins at Wimbledon.
A record chase that keeps growing
The 39-year-old Serb, who already holds the men's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, now sits level with Federer on Wimbledon match wins, with only nine-time women's champion Martina Navratilova ahead of him on the all-time list at 120 wins. Reaching the fourth round also pulled Djokovic level with Federer's record of 18 appearances at that stage of the tournament, another marker of just how long he has dominated grass-court tennis at SW19. His prize for the win is a fourth-round meeting with Roman Safiullin, who reached this stage as a qualifier by stunning Joao Fonseca 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Vintage Djokovic, then a serious scare
For long periods, Djokovic looked in complete control, extending a run that had already brought him six straight sets at this year's championships following a statement win over former top-10 player Stefanos Tsitsipas in round two. He treated Centre Court to some sumptuous shot-making, at one point diving to reach a full-stretch volley, then taking a bow and cupping a hand to his ear as the crowd roared its approval. That moment arrived on his way to closing out the opening set, in which both men had traded early breaks before Djokovic found his rhythm and pulled clear.
Rinderknech, the French 25th seed who eliminated third seed Alexander Zverev at Wimbledon last year, refused to fade quietly. He carved out an early break point in the second set, immediately posing questions of the top seed. But Djokovic answered by wrestling the momentum straight back, turning the pressure on his opponent and converting his own third break point of that game to move two sets ahead. At that stage, victory looked close to a formality.
Instead, Rinderknech regrouped to his credit and produced his best tennis of the afternoon, breaking Djokovic's serve twice in succession to blow through the third set 6-1 and drag the contest back into contention. The enthralled crowd grew increasingly vocal in support of both men as Rinderknech carried his improved belief deep into the fourth set, refusing to let the match slip away quietly.
With nothing separating the pair, the fourth set went to a tie break, and the two continued trading points on serve until the 10th, when Rinderknech sent a forehand wide to hand Djokovic the match. The finish suited the drama that had preceded it. Rinderknech threw himself full length across the grass to retrieve a drop shot, and Djokovic matched him with a dive of his own to seal his first match point of the contest, sending the crowd to its feet to applaud the efforts of both players after an absorbing battle that had run close to three hours.
Sinner made to work but reaches round four
Over on Court One, defending champion Jannik Sinner needed 6-4 6-3 6-4 to see off American world number 81 Jenson Brooksby and book his own place in the fourth round, though the Italian was not at his absolute best throughout the contest. Sinner, who is bidding for his first major title since winning Wimbledon last year, is not usually a player who looks to involve the crowd, but he asked the spectators for more noise after a stunning move to the net brought up his third match point of the afternoon. He said afterwards that he had needed that lift from the crowd that day to help him get over the line, even though his serve was almost imperious for most of the match.
His delivery barely needed the help it eventually got. Sinner won 87% of the points played behind his first serve and fired down 13 aces against just two double faults across the match. The only real dip in that department came when he was broken at the start of the third set, a blip he corrected immediately in the very next game, and again when he served for the match at 5-3 up in the third. He shook off one double fault in that closing game with a thumping 129mph ace and continued to use his serve out wide to great effect against Brooksby throughout the afternoon, though a tally of 27 unforced errors was a reminder that there is still work to be done before the tournament reaches its closing stages.
The win stretched a remarkable streak for Sinner, who has now won all 20 of his third-round matches at Grand Slam level, a men's Open era record that underlines just how rarely he is caught cold this deep into a major. He moves on to face Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki, the world number 150, who caused one of the tournament's bigger upsets by knocking out rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar to reach the fourth round himself.
