Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon on Sunday.
The Montreal native had 27 aces to just four double faults in the men’s singles tennis match, but only converted on four of his 16 break-point chances.
The third-seeded Auger-Aliassime was ahead 4-2 in the fourth set before squandering the lead and being pushed to a fifth set by the 22nd-seeded Spaniard.
Auger-Aliassime will next face seventh-seeded Novak Djokovic, who defeated Roman Safiullin for a record 106th career victory at Wimbledon, on Tuesday. Auger-Aliassime is 1-1 against Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion.
Earlier in Round of 16 mixed doubles action, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Joe Salisbury of the United Kingdom, defeated Ben Jones and Maia Lumsden of the U.K. 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski was also victorious with Evan King of the United States, earning a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win over Croatia’s Mate Pavic and Hungary’s Fanny Stollar.
Historic win for Djokovic
Djokovic screamed out his frustrations at times before overcoming a surprisingly tough challenge from 132nd-ranked qualifier Roman Safiullin on Sunday to break one of Roger Federer’s Wimbledon records.
Djokovic had to save two set points when trailing 5-2 in the first set and was warned for apparently screaming out an obscenity in Serbian on Centre Court when he was broken early in the third. But the seven-time Wimbledon champion went on to win 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 for his 106th match victory at the All England Club.
That puts him one ahead of Federer atop the all-time list for men, although he still trails Martina Navratilova’s 120 match wins.
It also puts him into the quarterfinals for the 17th time — one behind Federer’s record — and three matches away from joining his former rival on eight Wimbledon titles. But the Serb acknowledged that he will have to raise his game in order to get there.
“Survive to thrive, that’s how I feel,” Djokovic said when asked to sum up his first week of the championships. “So hopefully the thriving part is coming.”
The 39-year-old Djokovic has never lost a Grand Slam match against a player ranked as low as Safiullin, or to a qualifier, but looked in danger at times on Centre Court.
Djokovic seemed to struggle with the sunny and windy conditions in the first set before rallying from 5-2 to force a tiebreaker, where he converted his third set point. In the third, he got the warning from the umpire after going 2-0 down and then drew boos from the crowd when he hit the ball away in frustration after losing the set.
In his on-court interview, he apologized for what he called “the outbursts, the meltdowns.”
“I had a few of those today,” he said.
Djokovic, who is renowned for his ability to chase down almost every shot, also acknowledged that he opted to play more at the net than usual after repeatedly being outplayed in long rallies by Safiullin.
“I don’t get to feel inferior from the back of court with too many players, to be honest, throughout my career,” Djokovic said. “Today it was one of those days where I didn’t want to stay in the rally for too long. So I had to mix things up. And it worked.”
He quickly seized control in the fourth set by jumping out to a 3-0 lead, and then served out the match at love.
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner beat Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-3 and will next meet Jan-Lennard Struff, who advanced when Hubert Hurkacz retired while trailing 4-2 in the fifth set due to a strained abdominal muscle.
Krejcikova loses to ensure new women’s champion
There will be a new women’s champion at Wimbledon for the ninth straight time after Barbora Krejcikova lost to fellow Czech player Karolina Muchova in the fourth round.
Krejcikova, the 2024 winner, was the only former champion left in the women’s draw after Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Serena Williams all went out earlier.
Krejcikova followed suit with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 loss on No. 2 Court.
No woman has won multiple Wimbledon titles since Williams won her seventh in 2016.
Osaka beats top-ranked Sabalenka
Muchova will play 14th-seeded Naomi Osaka, who outslugged top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6 (2) to reach the quarterfinals for the first time later Sunday.
Sabalenka had beaten Osaka in all three of her previous matches with Osaka this year — including at the same stage of the French Open last month.
But this time Sabalenka couldn’t handle Osaka’s pace and flat groundstrokes, which had an even bigger impact than usual as her balls flew through the air faster on the warmest day of the tournament so far.
No. 4 Jessica Pegula also advanced by beating fellow American Iva Jovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Coco Gauff reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time by overcoming Belinda Bencic 4-6, 3-6, 6-4 just before the 11 p.m. curfew.
Gauff will next meet Pegula.
