LONDON (Reuters) – It was business as usual for top seed Novak Djokovic as the Serbian dismantled the challenge of Chile’s Cristian Garin with a 6-2 6-4 6-2 victory to advance to the last eight of Wimbledon and keep his title defence intact at the grasscourt major.
The world number one, who won the last two men’s singles titles on the manicured grass at the All England Club, will play his 50th Grand Slam quarter-final when he next faces either Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev or Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.
The 25-year-old Garin, seeded 17th, had never played Djokovic on grass before and soon realised he did not have the resources to trouble the Serbian on a sun-baked Centre Court.
Djokovic won the first eight points of the match and never took his foot off the pedal during the one hour 48 minutes, dominating from the baseline and the net against the Chilean.
He lost only 13 points on his own serve and broke his opponent five times to stay on course for a 20th Grand Slam title that would tie him with great rivals Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal for the most major men’s titles.
A sixth Wimbledon trophy on Sunday would also move the 34-year-old closer to the Golden Slam, with the Tokyo Olympics and the U.S. Open to be played on his favourite hard courts.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Ken Ferris)
