Djokovic battles back against Hurkacz to reach Wimbledon quarter-finals

Defending champion forced to fight hard for four-set win against Pole

Novak Djokovic celebrates after his fourth-round victory against Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon on July 10, 2023. Getty

Defending champion Novak Djokovic was temporarily knocked off course by big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz but quickly got back in the groove on Monday to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Having edged two tiebreaks late on Sunday before being beaten by the tournament's strict 11pm curfew, the 36-year-old returned to lose his first set of the tournament before sealing a 7-6, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 victory.

Djokovic was not at his best as Hurkacz briefly threatened a comeback but, as he so often does, the record 23-time Grand Slam men's champion found a solution.

He has now moved equal in second place with Jimmy Connors for Wimbledon quarter-finals reached and will face Russia's seventh seed Andrey Rublev on Tuesday.

Remarkably the Serbian has now reached 56 Grand Slam quarters-finals, second behind only Roger Federer.

With wind swirling around Centre Court, Djokovic struggled for his usual rhythm and dropped serve for the first time in the match to hand over the third set.

The second seed looked uncomfortable for a while against the 17th seed, who ended Federer's Wimbledon career two years ago.

But Djokovic pounced to finally the break the Hurkacz serve for the first time at 3-3 in the fourth – having seen seven previous break points snatched away.

From then on it was straightforward as Djokovic quickly wrapped things up in clinical fashion.

After the match, Djokovic said: “Big credit for Hubert for playing an amazing match, tough luck for him, he put up a great performance.

“Honestly, I don’t recall the last time I felt this miserable on returning games, due to his incredibly accurate and powerful serve.

“He’s got one of the best serves in the world and it’s so difficult to read it. Playing on the quickest surface it really favours the big servers so it was not really an enjoyable match for me. This match could definitely have gone a different way but I held my nerve and I’m happy to win.”

Third seed Daniil Medvedev reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time when his fourth-round opponent Jiri Lehecka retired injured after losing the first two sets 6-4, 6-2.

Medvedev, a former US Open champion, has played four Grand Slam finals but has always struggled at Wimbledon.

"I knew that Wimbledon was so far my worst Grand Slam in terms of going far so I'm really happy to be in the quarters here," the Russian said.

Medvedev will meet Christopher Eubanks in the last eight after the American knocked out Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4.