Men's singles champion Novak Djokovic continues the defence of his Wimbledon crown with a second-round clash against Australia's Jordan Thompson on Wednesday.
The world number two overcame Pedro Cachin in straight sets in the first round, while Thompson produced a magnificent fightback to defeat Brandon Nakashima in five.
Match preview
© Reuters
The British weather literally threatened to rain on Djokovic's parade on Centre Court during his disrupted first-round battle with Cachin, as play was suspended for over an hour due to the elements, while the humid air prevented the court from drying even with the roof closed.
Djokovic swapped his racquet for a towel in a humorous bid to speed up the process, but the lengthy hiatus did not have too much of a negative impact on the 23-time Grand Slam winner, who sealed a 6-3 6-3 7-6[4] win with two hours and 12 minutes on the clock.
Cachin dug incredibly deep in the third set to force a tie-breaker, but Djokovic was simply a class above on the day, posting 45 winners compared to 28 for the Argentine and only hitting 19 unforced errors, albeit while failing to take seven of the 11 break points that he brought up.
However, the quartet of the opportunities that Djokovic converted proved priceless, and the 36-year-old now seeks to avoid just a second exit in round two of Wimbledon, having fallen at this stage to Marat Safin at the 2008 Championships - his worst finish at SW19 to date.
The world number two is now 28-4 across all tournaments in the 2023 season as he endeavours to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, and the Australian icon would certainly have been proud of the efforts of her compatriot Thompson on day one.
© Reuters
Winning just four games across the opening two sets of his opener versus Nakashima, the writing was seemingly on the wall for Thompson, who is no stranger to first-round Wimbledon exits; the 29-year-old fell at the first hurdle four times in a row between 2016 and 2019.
However, Thompson refused to wave the white flag and pulled off one of the comebacks of his career to triumph 2-6 2-6 6-4 7-6[4] 6-3, and a showdown with reigning champion Djokovic is just reward for the world number 70's exceptional efforts.
Cleaning up his act on serve was key to Thompson's success, as after posting a mere two aces in the opening two sets, the Australian fired a whopping 14 in the final three - eight alone in the fourth - and he also navigated a weather-enforced delay at the worst time, having just brought up a break point in the final set before the heavens opened.
Nevertheless, a forehand error from Nakashima gifted Thompson the pivotal break before he completed the job in three hours and 30 minutes, and the Australian now seeks to match his best-ever result at SW19, having reached round three in 2021 before losing to Ilya Ivashka.
Twelve months later, Thompson's Wimbledon campaign was brought to an end in round two by Stefanos Tsitsipas - although Nick Kyrgios soon avenged his compatriot - and the world number 70 reached just his second ATP Tour singles final at June's Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, going down in three sets to Tallon Griekspoor.
Tournament so far
Novak Djokovic:
First round: vs. Pedro Cachin 6-3 6-3 7-6[4]
Jordan Thompson:
First round: vs. Brandon Nakashima 2-6 2-6 6-4 7-6[4] 6-3
Head To Head
Yet to lock horns on the ATP circuit, Wednesday's second-round battle will represent the first-ever meeting between Thompson and Djokovic on the tour, but the latter is already well-versed in downing Australian foes.
Few will forget Djokovic's triumph over the absent Kyrgios in last year's final, while he also cruised past Alex de Minaur in straight sets during their last-16 Australian Open meeting six months ago.
We say: Djokovic to win in three sets
Should Thompson suffer another dose of early misfortune on serve, the Australian risks being blown away by his more esteemed counterpart, but he arguably has nothing to lose after doing himself proud against Nakashima.
Thompson will likely find himself facing another two-set deficit on Wednesday, but another stellar turnaround is surely off the cards, as Djokovic cruises into a third-round clash with Stan Wawrinka or Tomas Etcheverry.
