In pain, Djokovic advances to his 16th Wimbledon quarterfinal

The afternoon was tough for Novak Djokovic, who defeated Alex De Minaur in four sets (1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4) in his Wimbledon round of 16 match.

After impressing in his third-round match against Miomir Kecmanovic, Djokovic seemed to be gradually building momentum heading into the tournament's second week.

However, the start of the match turned into a nightmare for the seven-time champion. De Minaur delivered a brutal 6-1 first set, with the Serb committing 16 unforced errors.

The next two sets swung in Djokovic’s favor with identical 6-4 scores, as he capitalized on his opponent’s shaky moments to break late in each set. Struggling in the fourth set, trailing by a break and even saving a 5-1 game point for De Minaur, the former world No. 1 dug deep to win five consecutive games and avoid a fifth set.

Winning in 3 hours and 18 minutes, Djokovic did not look as dominant as in his previous matches. For his 63rd Grand Slam quarterfinal, he will face Flavio Cobolli.