LONDON: Novak Djokovic will look to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the 16th time on Saturday as Iga Swiatek faces an opponent who once described herself as a “gangster” when she’s playing but an “angel off court”.
Seven-time champion Djokovic is chasing Roger Federer’s record of eight titles at the All England Club and his 25th Grand Slam title in total.
He barely broke sweat in his opening match this week but was pushed to four sets in his second encounter by British rookie Jacob Fearnley, who was still playing college tennis in the United States last month.
Just weeks after a right knee operation, Djokovic feels he is not fully up to speed yet.
“It’s not yet there where I want it to be,” he said after his win in the second round. “Kind of late on the balls that I’m normally not late on.
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“That’s the part which I guess comes with matches. So the longer I stay in the tournament, I think the better the chances that my movement will improve.”
On Saturday, he tackles Alexei Popyrin, whom he beat in four sets at the Australian Open earlier this year.
With defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked Jannik Sinner on the other side of the draw, and safely into the fourth round, Djokovic can see a clear path to a sixth straight final at the All England Club.
Popyrin, the world number 47, has never made the second week of a Slam.
Djokovic’s scheduled semi-final opponent Alexander Zverev opens play on Centre Court against Cameron Norrie, the last British man in the singles tournament.
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Zverev has dropped just 15 games in two rounds and boasts a 5-0 winning record over Norrie.
France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who only made the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying, has become the player nobody wants to face.
The 2.03 metre (6 feet 8 inches) world number 58 leads the ace count at Wimbledon with 78.
On top of that, the 20-year-old has saved all 13 break points he has faced and is bidding to become the first lucky loser into the last 16 since Dick Norman in 1995.
“I’m happy to have this serve which helps me enormously,” said Mpetshi Perricard, who faces Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.
Mpetshi Perricard is one of six Frenchmen to have reached the third round.
In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek has seen off all-comers during an impressive 21-match winning run.
On Saturday, she faces Yulia Putintseva, the diminutive Russian-born Kazakh who rankled the world number one earlier this year with her antics at Indian Wells.
Putintseva was ticked off by the chair umpire for moving from side to side as Swiatek shaped to serve.
Putintseva, who described herself in an interview with the WTA as “a gangster on court and angel off it”, even threw in a collection of underarm serves.
“Maybe they teach that in Kazakhstan,” said five-time major winner Swiatek who has yet to get past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Elsewhere, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina plays former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, while two-time runner-up Ons Jabeur takes on Elina Svitolina, a semi-finalist in 2023.
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