07/07/2021 9:25 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 07/07/2021 1:46 PM
The presentations of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on the
All England Center
Court
are the main attractions of Wednesday's day at Wimbledon, in which the men's quarter-final duels are played.
The Serbian, world number one and champion in the last two editions, confirmed his favoritism against the Hungarian
Marton Fucsovics
, 48th in the ranking, and beat him 6-3, 6-4 and 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes .
Now the Swiss, sixth seed and winner of eight tournament titles, is not having a good time with
14th seed
Hubert Hurkacz of
Poland
.
The day is televised by ESPN2.
In addition, on Court No. 1, Canadian
Denis Shapovalov
(10th) won a marathon match against Russian
Karen Khachanov
(25th).
And in the second tournament, the Italian
Matteo Berrettini
(7th) collides with another Canadian,
Felix Auger-Aliassime
(16th).
The first to become a Wimbledon semi-finalist was Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian settled for the tenth time in the Wimbledon semifinals and for the 41st time in a Grand Slam event after dispatching Marton Fucsovics in straight sets on Wednesday.
Djokovic scored a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory on a day of wind and leaden skies on Center Court, taking another step in his quest for a sixth championship at All England Club and equaling the all-time record of 20 Grand Slam crowns, shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The Serbian star went 19-0 in the majors this season, one in which he tries to take another step towards conquering the unprecedented Golden Slam, an achievement that only one person in all history achieved, Steffi Graf, in 1988 For that he needs to shout champion in this contest, at the US Open and also win the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Djokovic started at full steam, leading 5-0 after 18 minutes of play against Fucsovics, a 29-year-old Hungarian ranked 48th and making his debut in the quarterfinal round of a Grand Slam.
But the world number one went into a three-game slump and needed six set points to win the first set.
In the second round, the Hungarian improved his percentage of points obtained with the first serve (it went from a very low 50% to 71%) but that only reached him to even out a little more the development of a set that also went to the hands of Djokovic, who won five games in a row at the end of the second set.
That overwhelming rhythm continued at the beginning of the third against a rival who in the second round struck by eliminating Russian Andrey Rublev, seeded fifth, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
With a solid game, Nole closed out a victory in just over two hours.
His next opponent will be world number 12 Denis Shapovalov, who advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-final by defeating number 29 Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-4.
Now, Federer also goes in search of history.
The Swiss wants to get his 21st Grand Slam, to break the tie with Rafael Nadal and be the top winner in this category again.
Federer became the oldest player to reach the quarters at Wimbledon since the beginning of the Open Era.
Photo John Walton / DPA
The former number one had not arrived in London as a favorite, but on the lawn of the British capital, where he feels at home, he went from lowest to highest and fueled the illusion of those who hope to see him lift a "big" trophy for the first time. time since Australia 2018.
With his 7-5, 6-4 and 6-2 triumph on Monday over Italian
Lorenzo Sonego
, 13 years his junior, he also became the oldest player to reach that stage at All England since the beginning of the Era. Open.
At 39 years and 337 days, he surpassed the mark set by Australian
Ken Roswell
, who was a finalist in 1974, just under four months after his 40th birthday (he will celebrate that number on August 8).
Hurkacz, his rival, arrives with less rest.
Because he was only able to close his eighth game this Tuesday in the first shift, after the suspension in the fourth set the day before due to rain.
But the hit by 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3 and 6-3 against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, second seeded, who put him for the first time in the semis of a Major , it surely gave him an extra boost of energy.
So it seemed at the start of the game, when he had three break points in the fourth game.
However, Federer resisted and went from 0-40 to tie the match 2-2.
Despite that, Hurkacz kept trying and succeeded shortly after to be 4-2, confirm it with his service and then close the sleeve in his favor by 6-3.
Although Federer started the second set with three consecutive games, Hurkacz recovered the break and the story was defined in the tie break, where the Pole was relentless to take it 7-4.
The winner of the Federer-Hurkacz duel will face Berrettini or Auger-Aliassime in the semis.
The Italian, who beat Belarusian
Ilya Ivashka
6-4, 6-3 and 6-1
, will play the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the third time, after the US Open 2019 (he was a semifinalist) and Roland Garros, a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the Canadian, who surprised by 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 3-6 and 64 to the German Alexander Zverev (4th), will appear in that instance for the first time.