Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner remain on a collision course at Wimbledon as the third round of the Championships gets underway on day five.
Djokovic produced a “vintage” performance to defeat former world No 3 Stefanos Tsitispas on Wednesday, a straight-sets victory he raced to in an effort to save valuable energy for his bid to win a record 25th grand slam title at Wimbledon.
The 39-year-old will now face France’s 26th seed Arthur Rinderknech, with potential fourth-round foe Joao Fonseca knocked out by qualifier Roman Safiullin, while defending champion Sinner plays Jenson Brooksby as the Italian aims to gather momentum.
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka meets former Jelena Ostapenko in what could be an explosive third-round clash on Centre Court, after four-time major winner Naomi Osaka continues her increasingly impressive campaign by beating former world No 8 Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-3.
And there are plenty of Brits in doubles action, albeit none in singles after Arthur Fery became the only Brit in either the men’s or women’s draw to reach the third round with a four-set win over Otto Virtanen on Thursday.
Follow latest scores and updates from Wimbledon, below
FIRST SET! Novak Djokovic 7-5 Arthur Rinderknech*
Novak Djokovic bows to the crowd after diving to his right, Boris Becker style, and landing the volley! He’s ended up spending more time down on the grass than he would have liked so far, but that was a class moment.
And he quickly wraps up the set after constructing an excellent point and putting away the smash.
Djokovic is enjoying himself, and leads.
Naomi Osaka into the fourth round
Naomi Osaka looks particularly relaxed and happy with her tennis at the moment, and has been playing ominously well.
She’ll play the winner of Aryna Sabalenka vs Jelena Ostapenko – what a match that is, and what a match it’ll be either way in the fourth round!
Those two are up on Centre Court this afternoon after the conclusion of Djokovic v Rinderknech.
BREAK! *Novak Djokovic 6-5 Arthur Rinderknech
Now it’s Djokovic’s turn to put the pressure on. A lovely disguised volley at the net moves him to 0-30, and a Rinderknech error brings two break points. An unforced error from Djokovic on the first! That’s a surprise.
He gets a look at a second serve on the second, through, and pushes Rinderknech wide by catching the line.
Novak Djokovic 5-5 Arthur Rinderknech*
Rinderknech puts the pressure on and moves two points away from the set, but a lob lands inches long of the baseline! From there, Djokovic responds with a brilliant backhand winner crosscourt
Naomi Osaka into the fourth round
“I’m really happy, I’ve actually never won on this court,” Osaka smiles. “I’m really glad to have made a really good memory here, and thank you guys for cheering us on. It was a really big honour for me to play, so thank you.
“I definitely felt really good today, I’ve played a lot of matches on grass for the last two weeks. She played really good as well.
“You tell me,” she says when she’s asked how she feels about her prospects. “I’m trying to take it one day at a time, one point at a time even.
“Can I shout out my box?” she adds. “Thank you for being here. It was really fun to play.”
She says daughter Shai, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, “was kind of bad, we tried to take her to the park, but then she needed time-out, so we’re going to try to take her to the park again today! She blew out her candles and made a wish. I hope her wish is to behave better,” she says with a smile.
Naomi Osaka into the fourth round
Daria Kasatkina hits a forehand long, and Naomi Osaka is into the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time!
She has a huge smile on her face as she waves to her team and the crowd. Former quarter-finalist Kasatkina pushed her harder in the second set, but a sloppy service game as she trailed 5-3 was certainly not what she was after at such a crucial point.
Osaka wins 6-1, 6-3.
*Novak Djokovic 4-5 Arthur Rinderknech
Lobbing a man as tall as Arthur Rinderknech takes some doing but Djokovic has now done it twice. He catches the baseline with another exquisite touch.
Rinderknech’s drop shot is working nciely, though, and the big Frenchman holds too while tagging Djokovic with a body serve that landed out.
Djokovic, down 4-5 , will now serve to stay in the set.
*Novak Djokovic 3-4 Arthur Rinderknech
Now down 4-3, Djokovic has called for another pair of shoes after a number of slips in this first set.
BREAK! Novak Djokovic 3-3 Arthur Rinderknech*
Another slip from Djokovic! This time it’s as Rinderknech plays a series of heavy forehands then drops Djokovic with a clever drop shot.
It brings two break points, after a wonderful forehand winner from Rinderknech earlier in the game. And who saw that coming! Djokovic nets on the forehand and Rinderknech breaks straight back.
BREAK! *Novak Djokovic 3-2 Arthur Rinderknech
An error from Rinderknech on the opening point of the fifth game is followed by a double fault from the Frenchman, bringing up a chance at 0-30.
And then Djokovic clips the net-cord! Well, when things are falling your way… he holds up his hands after the forehand strikes the net and falls dead on the other side.
Three break points.
That’s stunning from Djokovic! He first snaps back a 138mph serve down the T from Rinderknech, then he defends a series of crosscourt forehands.
Djokovic goes for the drop shot, then lobs the towering Rinderknech, who nets!
The Frenchman opened the door with a some errors, Djokovic then got a bit lucky. But that was pure class to close out the break.
