Djokovic fights off Rinderknech to claim more history
Novak Djokovic claimed his latest piece of history as he battled past Arthur Rinderknech to reach the Wimbledon fourth round and equal Roger Federer's men's record of most singles match wins at SW19.
After the seven-time champion produced a statement performance against former top-10 player Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round, Djokovic had to overcome a far sterner test on his return to Centre Court.
But the 39-year-old Serb withstood an inspired resurgence from French 25th seed Rinderknech to prevail 7-5 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4).
Nine-time women's champion Martina Navratilova is now the only player to have won more singles matches than Djokovic at Wimbledon, with 120 wins.
Victory also meant Djokovic matched eight-time men's singles champion Federer's record of Wimbledon fourth-round appearances by reaching that stage for the 18th time.
Djokovic, the men's record 24-time major winner, will face Roman Safiullin for a place in the quarter-finals after the Russian qualifier stunned Joao Fonseca 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner was tested but came through 6-4 6-3 6-4 against American Jenson Brooksby to reach the fourth round.
Everything appeared to be going smoothly once again for Djokovic as he wrapped up his sixth and seventh successive sets at this year's championships to assert himself against the big-hitting Rinderknech.
Djokovic had delighted the audience with sumptuous shot-making up to that point, taking a bow and putting a finger to his ear after executing a volley at full stretch on his way to polishing off the opening set.
That was a clear signal that he had found his rhythm following a start in which the players traded early breaks, but Rinderknech continued to ask questions as he forced an early break point in set two.
However, when Djokovic responded by immediately turning the pressure on his opponent and clinching a third break point in the following game, the outcome seemed inevitable.
To his credit, Rinderknech, who ousted third seed Alexander Zverev here last year, stuck to his task - and he was rewarded with successive breaks of serve as he blew Djokovic away in the third set.
The enthralled crowd became increasingly vocal in support of both players as Rinderknech continued to grow in belief deep into the fourth set.
With a tie-break required to separate them, the decider remained on serve until the 10th point, when Rinderknech missed a forehand.
In a fitting conclusion to an absorbing three-hour contest, both players ended the match on the ground after Rinderknech threw himself at a drop shot and Djokovic responded with a dive of his own to clinch his first match point, prompting the crowd to jump to their feet and applaud their efforts.
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On Court One, Sinner showed glimpses of brilliance to beat world number 81 Brooksby, but was not at his absolute best.
Sinner, not usually a player to involve the crowd, asked them for more noise after a stunning move to the net saw him bring up a third match point.
The Italian said afterwards he had "needed that today" from the crowd to help him over the line - but his serve was almost imperious throughout.
He won 87% of points behind his first serve and hit 13 aces to two double faults.
The only time it faltered was when he was broken at the start of the third set - a blip he immediately corrected - and when he served for the match at 5-3 up.
He followed one double fault with a 129mph ace and used his serve out wide to great effect against Brooksby, but 27 unforced errors showed there is still work to be done.
Sinner has won all 20 of his third-round Grand Slam matches - a men's Open era record.
He will face Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki next after the world number 150 stunned rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar.
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