Novak Djokovic remained on course for his fourth Wimbledon title after dispatching Adrian Mannarino under the Centre Court roof on Tuesday after an overnight delay. Th e fourth-round match wasdue to be played on Court One on Monday, but Gilles Muller’s marathon fi ve-set victory over Rafael Nadal concluded late making it impossible for the match to be completed before dark. Light rain at the All England Club caused a delay to the start of matches on outside courts but the Serb’s contest started on time at noon thanks to the roof, which was closed for the fi rst time this year.
Th e second seed made a blistering start, despite summoning the doctor after just three games, winning it 6-2 in just over half an hour against the Frenchman. World No 51 Mannarino came into the tournament in decent form having lost in the fi nal of the Antalya Open and he shrugged off a troublesome hip problem by breaking back in the eighth game of the second set to send the set into a tiebreak.
But Mannarino lost an early 4-2 advantage when he tightened up to allow the 12-time Grand Slam champion to seal it 7-6 (7-5). Djokovic broke early in the third but the required treatment for a right shoulder problem after the fi fth game and a medical timeout at 4-3 to treat the same problem. And although he looked uncomfortable in the latter stages, he did enough to reach his 39th Grand Slam quarter-fi nal in two hours and 13 minutes. He will next take on Tomas Berdych on Wednesday and the Serb will go into the match as fi rm favourite to reach his eighth Wimbledon semi-fi nal after boasting an impressive 25-2 career record over the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up
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