Stat of the Day: Novak Djokovic reaches 55th Grand Slam second week

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic kept piling on the numbers at Wimbledon on Friday afternoon, reaching the second week of a Grand Slam for the 55th time in his career—as well as improving to 21-0 against qualifiers at the majors—with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7) third-round victory over Denis Kudla.

The match could easily have gone to a fourth set, with the American qualifier bringing up a set point in the third set tie-break, but Djokovic swatted it away and closed it out after two hours and 17 minutes.

“Kudla fought well,” the Serb said afterwards. “He played well, I thought, from the beginning. Until the last game of the first set we were pretty even. I won, I think, four games in a row, something like that, started playing better. I mixed it up.

“I had to slow down the pace in the game because he was really handling the ball well, the flat ball, from the back of the court. He has a really good balance. I think his backhand and forehand as well, pretty flat. He moves around pretty well on the grass court surface. He’s a really good player.”

Djokovic’s 55 round of 16 appearances at Grand Slams is the second-most for a man in the Open Era, after only Roger Federer, who’s had 69 (and will go for his 69th against Cameron Norrie on Saturday).

The Serb’s 21-0 record against qualifiers at majors is just a part of his excellent 85-6 record against them overall at tour-level. He’s won 19 in a row since falling to Martin Klizan at Barcelona in 2018.