Novak Djokovic targets a record-equalling 105th Wimbledon match win as he faces Arthur Rinderknech on Centre Court.
NOVAK Djokovic can earn his latest slice of Wimbledon history with a third-round win on Friday, while Jannik Sinner and world number one Aryna Sabalenka aim to step up their title bids.
Djokovic, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, is back on Centre Court to meet French 25th seed Arthur Rinderknech.
A victory against Rinderknech would secure his 105th match win at Wimbledon and equal Roger Federer’s all-time record in the All England Club men’s singles.
Federer and Martina Navratilova (120) are the only players to have won more singles matches at Wimbledon than Djokovic.
Djokovic is also bidding to reach the last 16 for the 18th time and equal Federer’s Open era record for most men’s singles fourth-round appearances at Wimbledon.
Djokovic would become the fourth man in the Open era to make the last 16 at Wimbledon aged 39 or older after Federer, Pancho Gonzales and Ken Rosewall.
Those statistics underline Djokovic’s remarkable longevity, but it is silverware that the Serb uses to measure his success.
He arrived at Wimbledon targeting a record 25th Grand Slam singles crown, which would break a tie with Margaret Court and draw him level with Federer’s record eight titles at the All England Club.
Winning Wimbledon would also make Djokovic the oldest man to lift a Grand Slam trophy in the Open era.
Djokovic was in vintage form in his straight-sets rout of Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
As Djokovic said after beating Tsitsipas; “age is just a number”.
Sinner ended Carlos Alcaraz’s two-year reign as Wimbledon champion with a brilliant final victory over the Spaniard last year.
The four-time Grand Slam champion is still some way from those lofty heights heading into his third-round tie against American world number 81 Jenson Brooksby.
‘A really good memory’
Having opted not to play a Wimbledon warm-up event for the first time in his career, Sinner looked a little underprepared in his first and second round wins over Miomir Kecmanovic and Nuno Borges.
The world number one hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final this year and blew a two-set lead in a shock French Open second-round defeat against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in June.
Hoping to win Wimbledon for the first time, Sabalenka faces a tricky test against Jelena Ostapenko in one of the ties of the round.
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who has reached 14 successive major quarter-finals, has not been at her over-powering best so far in the tournament.
The 28-year-old has lost in the semi-finals on each of her past three visits to Wimbledon.
And while Sabalenka’s presence in the latter stages of the majors has become a given, she has won only one of the last six Grand Slam tournaments.
That makes 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko an intriguing obstacle for Sabalenka to hurdle.
The 29-year-old reached the Wimbledon semi-finals eight years ago and is capable of rattling Sabalenka with her booming ground-strokes.
Elsewhere in Friday’s third-round action, Japan’s Naomi Osaka ended her long wait to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Australian Daria Kasatkina.
Osaka has caused a stir at Wimbledon with her eye-catching outfits, but the 28-year-old is finally stealing the spotlight with her performances as well.
After advancing no further than the third round in her five previous main draw appearances at the All England Club, Osaka finally made it to the last 16 with a dominant display on Court One.
She needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Kasatkina, setting up a fourth-round clash against Sabalenka or Ostapenko.
“I’m really happy. In my career I’d never won on this court. I’m just glad to have made a really good memory here,” Osaka said.
Rising Brazilian star Joao Fonseca slumped to a surprise 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 defeat against Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin.
American fourth seed Jessica Pegula thrashed Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1, 6-3, while Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, beat Russian Anna Kalinskaya in three sets.
