Novak Djokovic continued his impressive Wimbledon progress by powering into round four with a straight-sets win over Miomir Kecmanovic.
After dropping a set in his win over Soonwoo Kwon in the opening round, he improved in taking care of Thanasi Kokkinakis and it was a step up again in disposing of world No. 30 Kecmanovic 6-0 6-3 6-4 to set up a meeting with Dutch wildcard Tim van Rijthoven.
Victory over Kecmanovic was Djokovic’s 350th in Grand Slams, and he was proud of the achievement.
“I am very blessed to be in the position, obviously, to compete at the highest level and to secure more wins in the Grand Slams,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “Obviously those are the tournaments, historically, that matter the most in our sport. So, I’ve been just very proud of the consistency [at] this level.”
Reflecting on his form at Wimbledon, Djokovic said: “Well, honestly I think I’ve been playing better and better as the tournament progresses, so it’s obviously something that, you know, you always wish for as a player, that every match that you raise the level of tennis up a notch at least, and I think that is what’s happening at the moment.
“So, I know I can always do better, I always expect the highest from myself but I think so far, so good, and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”
Djokovic raced through the opening set for the loss of only 12 points to suggest a rapid victory could be on the cards.
But his fellow Serbian upped his level in the second to keep pace with the No. 1 seed.
Kecmanovic looked more comfortable as the second set wore on and had chances to make a dent on the Djokovic serve, but the defending champion held firm.
And in the style of a 20-time major winner, when the opening presented itself to Djokovic he took it.
He worked a break point simply by staying in a point he should have lost and a lob over the backhand wing of his opponent proved too hot to handle as Kecmanovic sent the backhand smash into the tramlines.
With the break of serve under his belt, Djokovic sealed the set with a delicious lob over his advancing opponent.
Kecmanovic won a tight opening game at the start of the third set, but he was unable to keep Djokovic at bay and the defending champion broke through in the third game – sealing it with a superb defensive lob and a further lob volley with his opponent flailing at the ball to no avail.
Djokovic secured a second break of serve in the seventh game but appeared to take his eye off the prize as he coughed up a cheap break of serve of his own.
Kecmanovic held serve to cut the gap to one game, but Djokovic regrouped to hold and close out the match in one hour and 52 minutes.
