PA Media/dpa
London
Novak Djokovic survived a tricky encounter with British wild card Jacob Fearnley to reach the Wimbledon third round on Thursday.
The seven-time champion, still wearing a knee support following his recent surgery on a torn meniscus, dropped the third set but got the job done 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in exactly three hours.
“I dropped my level,” admitted the Serbian. “I think I should have done some things better in the third set to finish it off.
“Hopefully I can raise the level in the upcoming rounds.” Djokovic will face Australian Alexei Popyrin, who knocked out 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in five sets, in round three.
Another potential hurdle for Djokovic removed himself when seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz, his projected quarter-final opponent, was injured winning a point.
The 27-year-old from Poland, highly-fancied at this year’s Championships, dived to make a volley during a fourth-set tie-break against Frenchman Arthur Fils and hurt his knee.
Hurkacz, who ended Roger Federer’s Wimbledon career three years ago, tried to play on after having the knee strapped up but managed just two more points before retiring.
Grigor Dimitrov, the Bulgarian 10th seed, had to come from two sets down to beat Chinese teenager Shang Juncheng, a player 14 years his junior, 5-7, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
American 13th seed Taylor Fritz needed four sets to see off the stubborn Arthur Rinderknech and another Frenchman, Gael Monfils, won the battle of the veterans 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) with Stan Wawrinka.
Australian ninth seed Alex De Minaur beat Spain’s Jaume Munar in straight sets while Ben Shelton, the 14th seed from America, won his second five-setter of the week, 10-7 in a fifth-set tie-break, to edge past South African Lloyd Harris.
Top seed Iga Swiatek reached the third round of the women’s singles with a tenacious straight-set win over Petra Martic.
Croatian Martic pushed the Polish world number one in moments but lost her serve late in both sets in Swiatek’s 6-4 6-3 win.
Swiatek will face Yulia Putintseva in the third round with the Kazakh player upsetting Czech 27th seed Katerina Siniakova 6-0 4-6 6-2 earlier on day four.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, American fifth seed Jessica Pegula became the highest-ranked casualty at this year’s singles when she was beaten by world number 42 Wang Xinyu.
The Chinese player won 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 on court three to set up a third-round tie with Britain’s Harriet Dart.
Ons Jabeur, runner-up at the past two Wimbledons, beat American Robin Montgomery 6-1 7-5.
The Tunisian 10th seed will take on 21st seed Elina Svitolina in the third round after the Ukrainian overcame German Jule Niemeier 6-3 6-4.
American 11th seed Danielle Collins beat Hungary’s Dalma Galfi 6-3 6-4 and will face 20th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia next after the Brazilian benefitted from a walkover.
Madison Keys, a quarter-finalist last year’s, beat China’s Wang Yafan 6-2 6-2, while 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko defeated Ukraine’s Daria Snigur 6-3 6-0.
