Novak Djokovic dispatches Stan Wawrinka in quick time as he races to beat Wimbledon curfew

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Novak Djokovic beat Stan Wawrinka and the Wimbledon curfew to book his place in the fourth round. </p>

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The match did not begin until 8.40pm, an hour later than Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas got under way on Thursday, but Djokovic finished a 6-3 6-1 7-6 (5) victory with 14 minutes to spare. </p>

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It certainly did Wawrinka no favours that Djokovic was against the clock as he clicked straight into top gear and pushed the pace at every opportunity. </p>

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It was a 31st consecutive victory for Djokovic at the All England Club, equalling Pete Sampras' best, and the seven-time champion said: "He was two points away from extending this match to another day. Coming to the court we knew it was going to be really tight. </p>

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"I know I can always play better, I always have a couple of gears that I can go higher. Hopefully as the tournament progresses I can play better and better." </p>

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This was a 27th meeting between the pair and, although Djokovic led 20-6, at grand slams they were tied at 4-4, with two of Wawrinka's three titles coming after victories over the Serbian in finals. </p>

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Both were some years ago now, though, and it has been a long road back to the top 100 for 38-year-old Wawrinka after knee and foot surgeries. </p>

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Wimbledon has been by some distance his weakest slam and he cheerfully wrote off his chances completely ahead of a first grass-court meeting with Djokovic. </p>

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That proved to be realistic rather than pessimistic as Djokovic pounded precision groundstrokes into the corners, time and again drawing errors from his opponent after thumping exchanges. </p>

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Wawrinka's statistics did not make pretty reading but it would be harsh to criticise the veteran too much, aside from a very low first-serve percentage, given the barrage of quality coming from the other end. </p>

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He served much better in the third set and fought exceptionally hard to force a tie-break. </p>

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Djokovic had won his last 11 tie-breaks at grand slams, famously not making an unforced error in six at the French Open. That record was in danger here when Wawrinka went 5-3 up but he was unable to send the contest to a second day as Djokovic booked a date with Hubert Hurkacz. </p>

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<p>The article <a href="https://www.planetsport.com/tennis/news/novak-djokovic-dispatches-stan-wawrinka-quick-time-races-beat-wimbledon-curfew">Novak Djokovic dispatches Stan Wawrinka in quick time as he races to beat Wimbledon curfew </a> appeared first on Planetsport.com.</p>