With a pair of impressive grass-court win streaks on the line Sunday in the Wimbledon fourth round, Novak Djokovic extended his run to 25 consecutive victories on the surface. He ended the perfect 8-0 grass season of Dutch wild card Tim van Rijthoven with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory on Centre Court to bring the Dutchman’s dream Grand Slam debut to a close.

The top-seeded Djokovic was challenged by his opponent’s powerful serve and multi-faceted forehand, but showed his championship pedigree by locking down with his baseline game to produce a brilliant response to his second dropped set of the tournament.

“I knew coming into the match that it was always going to be a tough, challenging matchup against Tim, who I’ve never faced before,” Djokovic said in his post-match presser. “I watched him play. He’s got a really good game for grass, which he proved today. [It] was a very good fight, especially in the first two sets.

“But overall I think I’ve played very well, very solid from back of the court. I got into his service rhythm, started reading his serve better in the third and fourth sets.”

After van Rijthoven fought off four break points to serve out the second set, sending Djokovic slipping to the turf with well-disguised hitting, the Serbian raced to a 5-0 lead in the third to re-estabish himself as the dominant force in the contest. He made just two unforced errors in the third set as he found his groove on return, eliminating the free points that served to boost van Rijthoven’s confidence in the early stages.

Attacking the Dutchman’s backhand corner, Djokovic secured an instant break in the fourth set to quell any thoughts of a turnaround. Ever the perfectionist, he let out a roar of frustration after a rare miss later in the set before he finished the match with ease after two hours, 37 minutes.

“I just really am pleased with the way I closed out the match,” Djokovic added. “I lost the rhythm on my serve a little bit towards the end of the match, but overall just a good fight and really challenging match for me on grass.”

Djokovic’s 25 straight grass wins — all of which have come at Wimbledon, where he is a three-time defending champion — are second all-time. He broke a tie with Rod Laver with Sunday’s result, but still trails Roger Federer’s 65 consecutive grass victories, achieved from 2003-08.

A thank you from one legend to another.@DjokerNole was thrilled to see @BillieJeanKing still in attendance at 10:45pm on Centre Court#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/B8BI964dho

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2022

The Serbian will seek to extend that win streak on Tuesday against 10th seed Jannik Sinner. After scoring his first career grass-court win in the opening round, the Italian has started to look at home on the London lawns. He did not drop serve in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3 win over Carlos Alcaraz earlier on Sunday.

Djokovic won the lone previous ATP Head2Head match between the pair 6-4, 6-2 last year at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Looking ahead to their quarter-final meeting, Djokovic was full of praise for his next opponent.

“He’s maturing a lot on the big stage. I think he doesn’t feel too much pressure on the big stage,” Djokovic said of Sinner. “He’s very solid. He has every shot in his game: serve, return, forehand, backhand. He’s constantly putting pressure on opponents.

“I kind of see a little bit of myself in his game, as well, from back of the court, playing flat backhands, constantly staying on the back of the line, trying to put pressure on opponents.”

As Djokovic bids for his seventh Wimbledon crown and 21st Grand Slam title, he is bracing for his toughest challenge of the fortnight.

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah enjoyed a comprehensive triumph on Sunday at Wimbledon to reach the quarter-finals at the grass-court major for the third consecutive time.

The Colombian sixth seeds, who lifted the trophy at SW19 in 2019, broke Radu Albot and Nikoloz Basilashvili four times to seal a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 third-round victory. Cabal and Farah’s opponents in the London quarter-finals will be 13th seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni or all-American duo Denis Kudla and Jack Sock.

Things weren’t so straightforward for Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. The second seeds did manage to keep their defence of their 2021 title alive, but not without a scare along the way.

The all-Croatian team regained its composure in a decisive fifth set to edge Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara with a 6-4, 7-6(6), 4-6, 2-6, 6-3 third-round victory. Mektic and Pavic appeared to be cantering to the quarter-finals when they led Glasspool and Heliovaara by two-sets-to-love on Court 12, but an inspired comeback from the British-Finnish pairing turned a comfortable afternoon for the second seeds into a three-hour, 14-minute epic.

The 13-time tour-level titlists Mektic and Pavic, who are chasing their third consecutive crown on grass after triumphs at The Queen’s Club and Eastbourne, carved out 15 break point opportunities in the match but converted just three. Crucially, however, two of those came in the fifth set, when they broke their opponents’ serve in the fourth and eighth games to secure a spot in the quarter-finals.

Top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury also had to dig deep after dropping the opening set to Mallorca Championships winners Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez.

Ram and Salisbury sit at No. 2 and No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings, respectively, but the pair is yet to win a tour-level grass-court title. They moved one step closer to doing that at SW19 by rallying to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win against the 16th-seeded Matos and Vega Hernandez

Awaiting Ram and Salisbury in the quarter-finals will be Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Roger Federer joined a parade of former Wimbledon champions on Centre Court Sunday to celebrate the centenary of the famous show court. The Swiss has not competed since his quarter-final run one year ago at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, but was thrilled to be back on the court which has provided many of the best memories of his career.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of matches on this court,” the 40-year-old said in the on-court ceremony. “It’s great to be here with all the other champions. This court has given me my biggest wins and my biggest losses.”

Federer recalled his 2001 victory over seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras — his first Centre Court win — as one of his favourite personal highlights.

“He has inspired a lot of us [that are here] today to just try to also be successful here and represent the sport well,” Federer said of the American. “I hope I did that and I hope I can come back here one more time.”

Two years later, Federer won the first of his eight Wimbledon crowns by defeating Mark Philippoussis in the 2003 final. No man has won more than his eight singles titles at SW19, and this year’s event is the first he has missed at The Championships since his 1999 debut.

“Of course I missed being here [this year as a player],” he said. “I would have loved to be here. I knew walking out here last year it was going to be a tough year ahead. Maybe I didn’t think it was going to take me this long to come back but the knee has been rough on me.

“But I’ve been happy, I’ve been happy at home. It’s been a good year, regardless of tennis. Our kids our fine… I travelled so much for so many years.”

On Sunday, the Swiss was happy to get back on the road to mark the momentous occasion.

“I didn’t know if I should make the trip, but I’m happy standing right here right now,” he said in front of a packed crowd and full Royal Box, with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King and Rod Laver joining him on court for the celebrations.

Stefanos Tsitsipas lost a fiery four-set match against Nick Kyrgios on Saturday at Wimbledon, but the Greek departs London in good position for the rest of the season.

The 23-year-old is guaranteed to lead the ATP Tour in wins after Wimbledon with 42, regardless of results for the rest of the fortnight. The World No. 5 went 8-3 during his grass-court season, including a run to his first tour-level title on the surface in Mallorca.

2022 Match Wins Leaders (as of 2 July)

Tsitsipas is second in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin as he aims to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. Tsitsipas lifted his biggest trophy at the season finale in 2019, when the event was held at The O2 in London. 

In addition to his recent triumph in Mallorca, Tsitsipas claimed his second ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April and made the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The Greek fell short on No. 1 Court at the All England Club against an in-form Kyrgios, who now leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 4-1. Despite the tension in the match, Tsitsipas held a set point in the fourth-set tie-break. If he converted the opportunity, it would have pushed the match to a deciding set in front of the London crowd.

“I enjoyed my tennis today. I enjoyed the atmosphere out there,” Tsitsipas said. “I enjoyed the way I fought and the way I tried to find solutions.”