Djokovic ends his Federer curse after worst first set

Novak Djokovic won his 101st match at Wimbledon and advanced to his eighth consecutive quarter-final.

- Paul MacInnes

Not that this was enough for the Serbian all-timer. In an act of grand generosity against his opponent Alex de Minaur, he also had his worst opening set at SW19, granting a rapt Centre Court crowd a rare moment of jeopardy at one of his matches.

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion was broken three times in the first set by the Australian 12 years his junior. Djokovic's game was all over the place. In that short window it was possible to imagine a world in which decent, well-rounded challengers such as De Minaur, the No 11 seed, might come into these matches with hope of something other than chastening defeat. It was a nice thought while it lasted.

Everyone at this tennis sanctum knows better than to discount Djokovic, of course, at any point in a match. Even after such a disembodied display in the opening half-hour, the projected outcome was still success for the 38-year-old, and so it duly proved. The errors sharply declined, as if he had had a strong word with himself internally. The quality of his serve rose with each game to the point that it was the decisive weapon in the third set.