London, July 4 (IANS) Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic did not look as sharp as he would have liked, dropped a set, but still pulled through to the fourth round at Wimbledon on Friday, equalling Roger Federer’s record of most men’s singles matches won at the grass-court major.

Djokovic, the most successful player in the history of Grand Slam tennis, faced a fightback from Arthur Rinderknech at Centre Court before carving out a 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) third-round victory. With this, the Serbian former World No.1 has 105 singles wins at Wimbledon as the 39-year-old tied with Federer for the all-time record among men, with former WTA No. 1 Martina Navratilova (120) the only player boasting more.

In Friday’s third-round clash, Djokovic locked in on the big moments and found a way to halt the Frenchman’s big serving and scraped through to the next round.

“To be able to make history in this sport is a huge honour and a huge privilege,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “Particularly here, it’s always been a dream childhood tournament of mine. I’m not thinking about whether it’s going to be 105 or 106, but I’m just thinking about trying to win that match on a given day.

“Today I was quite stressed out. There was more tension than usual. I knew it was going to be a very challenging match for me. I’m just happy to overcome this. I propose a matchup between Roger and me for 106!”

Djokovic had produced a statement performance on Wednesday night, raising his level against Stefanos Tsitsipas to defeat the Greek No. 1 across three slick sets, sending a reminder to the rest of the field. However, on Friday, he struggled a bit in his three-hour, one-minute battle with the fierce-hitting Rinderknech, which ended with both men lying on the grass after an eventful match point, told a different story.

After firing 35 winners across the opening two sets — both of which he lost — Rinderknech’s aggressive game style began to pay dividends. The 6’5” Frenchman capitalised on a tentative third set from Djokovic to pull one back before commanding the crowd in the latter stages of the fourth, when both players showed their quality with a series of absorbing rallies.

Rinderknech held serve for 4-4 by wriggling out of danger in a thrilling exchange that had Djokovic backpedalling toward the baseline before eventually missing a backhand long. This particular point had the Centre Court crowd in raptures as they dropped their jaws and lifted themselves to their feet to applaud the 25th seed.

While there were plenty of signs of promise from Rinderknech, who earned the biggest win of his career on the same court 12 months ago against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev, Djokovic ultimately had the final say. The 24-time major champion was resilient against Rinderknech’s delightful serve and volley routines and found his way through a tense tie-break to seal the win.

Djokovic thus set up a fourth-round meeting with 28-year-old qualifier Roman Safiullin, who earlier ousted Joao Fonseca 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, with a near-flawless performance. Safiullin, who struggled with injury at the back end of 2025, did not record a tour-level win this year before Wimbledon.

–IANS

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