Novak Djokovic will not need to face Joao Fonseca if he reaches the fourth round of Wimbledon after the Brazilian teenager was knocked out by qualifier Roman Safiullin.
Djokovic, who plays 25th Arthur Rinderknech on Centre Court this afternoon, was defeated by Fonseca in the third round of the French Open last month.
It was a five-set epic, with Fonseca fighting back and Djokovic losing a match from two sets up for only the second time in his career.
A repeat could have been on the cards in the last-16 of Wimbledon on Sunday, but Fonseca, bidding to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time, will instead be going home.
The 24th seed was stunned in straight sets by the Russian qualifier Safiullin, ranked 132nd in the world. Safiullin won 6-3 6-3 6-3 in just over two hours.
Safiullin, 28, had won in five sets in his first two rounds, beating 12th seed Andrey Rublev in the first round and then Botic van de Zandschulp in the second.
Both matches went to a deciding set tiebreak, with Safiullin becoming the first player to win multiple deciding set tiebreaks in the same year at Wimbledon.
Safiullin, a former quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, had previously won three matches in qualifying – including a five-set win over Jerome Kym in the final round.
Fonseca, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open last month in his best grand slam result, started his Wimbledon bid with back-to-back straight sets wins against Roberto Bautista Agut and Jesper de Jong.
But there will be no repeat of the Brazilian’s clash against Djokovic in the fourth round. Should Djokovic avoid an upset against Rinderknech on Centre Court, it will have cleared another obstacle from his path as he bids to win a record 25th grand slam title.
