Novak Djokovic on Monday demolished Holger Rune to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, staying on track for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam as Taylor Fritz stunned fourth seed Alexander Zverev.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina wore a black ribbon and broke down in tears as she progressed hours after a Russian missile barrage killed dozens and ripped open a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
Meanwhile top women’s doubles seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Elise Mertens of Belgium defeated the US’ Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the third round.
Photo: AP
They were to play the US’ Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals yesterday, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova were to take on the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the third round.
In the mixed doubles on Monday, Hsieh and Poland’s Jan Zielinski beat the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs and Monaco’s Hugo Nys 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in their second-round match.
Seven-time champion Djokovic, who dropped sets in the second and third rounds, was expected to be tested by Rune, but instead gave the young Dane a harsh lesson, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just more than two hours.
The Serb, 37, still wearing a knee support on his right knee after surgery last month, did not drop a single point in the opening three games against his bewildered opponent.
He engineered a single break in the second set before two more breaks in the third set sealed a quarter-final against Australian ninth seed Alex de Minaur.
Yet despite his easy win, the Serbian launched an angry outburst at a section of Centre Court fans who constantly chanted “Rune” throughout the match and which the Serb took to be booing.
“To all the fans that have had respect and stayed here tonight, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I appreciate it,” Djokovic said.
“And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player — in this case me — have a goooooooood night,” he said, mocking his tormentors’ exaggerated “Ruuuuune.”
When told by the TV interviewer that some fans were shouting “Rune” rather than “boo,” Djokovic hit back.
“They were [booing]. They were. I am not accepting it. No, no, no. I know they were cheering for Rune but that’s an excuse to also boo,” he said.
“Listen, I have been on the tour for more than 20 years. I know all the tricks, I know how it works. I focus on the respectful people that pay for the ticket, and love tennis and appreciate the players,” he said. “I have played in much more hostile environments, trust me — you guys can’t touch me.”
Rune said his fans started chanting his name in their distinctive, bellowing manner when the two men met for the first time at the US Open in 2021.
“It sounded a little bit like ‘boo.’ We played each other many more times, but more in Italy and France, where they don’t pronounce my name the same way,” he said. “Now we’re in England. If you don’t know what was happening, probably it sounded like ‘boo.’”
Earlier, 13th seed Fritz mounted a stirring comeback from two sets down to dump big-serving Zverev out of the tournament, winning 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Faced with Zverev’s relentless serve, the American looked to be heading home, but engineered a crucial break in the third set — the first time the German had been broken in the entire tournament — changing the momentum of the match.
“It was amazing to do that on Centre Court, two sets down in front of this crowd. It’s a dream,” said Fritz, who is to face Italian 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the last eight.
Zverev, wearing a support on his left knee, said he was “on one leg today” as a result of an injury he picked up in his third-round win against Cameron Norrie.
“It is nothing that I need surgery on,” he added. “It is nothing that doesn’t heal by itself. It just needs time.”
In the women’s singles, Svitolina wept on court after reaching the last eight for a third time with a 6-2, 6-1 win against China’s Wang Xinyu in just 55 minutes.
The 21st seed, wearing a black ribbon on her white shirt, was in action after Russia struck cities across Ukraine in missile attacks, killing dozens and heavily damaging a Kyiv children’s hospital, according to Ukrainian officials.
“It’s a very difficult day today for all Ukraine people,” 29-year-old Svitolina said.
As she attempted to compose herself, she received a lengthy round of applause from spectators on Court Two.
“It was not easy to focus on the match. Since this morning it has been very difficult to read the news and go on court,” she added.
Svitolina will next play Russian-born Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who progressed when Anna Kalinskaya retired with the score at 6-3, 3-0.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland on Friday advanced to the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon, just one step away from clinching their first mixed doubles title at the tournament. Hsieh and Zielinski, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year and who had reached the semi-finals at the French Open, battled past second seeds Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6, (7/0), 6-3. In the first set, the Taiwanese-Polish duo saved a set point, pushing the set into a tiebreaker. They clinched the set by winning the tiebreaker with seven straight points. The duo
A chance encounter during a drunken night out was the unlikely catalyst for breaker Sunny Choi’s journey to the Paris Olympic Games. The 35-year-old American is to showcase her skills before a global audience in Paris when breaking makes its debut on the Olympic stage. Choi is the beneficiary of efforts to attract younger fans to the Olympics, a move that led to breaking’s inclusion for the first time. However, as Choi says, the Olympics was the last thing on her mind when she took up the sport. A freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Choi stumbled into breaking
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super