Second seed Novak Djokovic recorded a four-sets victory against home wild card Jacob Fearnley at Wimbledon on Thursday.
The seven-time former champion defeated the world no.277 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in three hours.
Novak was on course for a straight-sets win when he broke the Brit’s serve mid-way through the third set. However, Fearnley responded with two breaks to win the set. Djokovic increased his intensity and gained the crucial break in the 11th game to triumph in the pair’s first H2H meeting.
“I don’t know if I really had a champion’s mentality today. I was not really comfortable in my own skin, particularly in the third and fourth sets but sometimes you have rough days where you’re not feeling your best and of course it also depends on the opponent across the net,” said Novak. “Today, Jacob played on a high level and he made me earn this victory so all in all, it was a win at the end of the day and I’ll take it. Hopefully I can play even better in the next round.”
Match statistics: aces (14-13), double faults (3-5), winners (34-42), unforced errors (27-49), total points won (130-115).
Novak will continue the quest for his eighth trophy at The Championships when he meets Alexei Popyrin (AUS, ATP no.47) in the third round (2-0 H2H record).
Photo: Profimedia