By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Novak Djokovic just showcased another grass surface dominance after out-maneuvering Holger Rune in a sweeping fashion- 6.3, 6.4, 6.2- to cruise to the quarterfinal round of the ongoing Wimbledon tennis tournament on July 9, 2024, in London, England.
Entering the Round of 16 matchup with boosted confidence after eliminating Alexei Popyrin in one of the most entertaining Wimbledon matches so far, the Serbian superstar just pulled off a clinical outing and dealt Rune one of his worst beatings in his grass surface career.
An early break point helped Djokovic build up the game’s momentum during the opening set and followed it up with a service hold to balloon his lead to two set points, 5-3.
Just when Rune started to pick up his volley rhythm after scoring an off-the-bounce pick-up in the net area, Djokovic ended the first set in a jiffy after blitzing his way with back-to-back down-the-line winners.
In the second set, Rune switched his strategy after targeting Djokovic’s backhand side and waited for an opening to throw his booming forehand shot.
However, with the vast court mastery that the Serbian had, Djokovic just let things go his way and frustrated Rune by returning his power shots with a deep slice spin.
As a result, Rune failed to execute his game plan, leading to an early collapse midway through the second set.
Djokovic then took advantage and stepped on the gas pedal, pummeling the Danish youngster with a series of baseline winners to take a commanding 2-0 advantage.
It was all Djokovic in the third and last set as he completely took over the match with his deep offensive bag, scoring points in a variety of ways from his drop shots to his unorthodox net game.
After the nearly two-hour battle, Djokovic led in almost every department of the match, outscoring Rune, 91-69, while also capping off the win with an impressive 75% win rate in his first service possessions.
Up next for Djokovic is the rolling Alex de Minaur from Australia who earlier outdueled Arthur Fils to barge into the quarterfinal round of the Wimbledon.
