Today’s order of play
Here’s a look at today’s men’s and women’s singles matches in the round of 16:
Centre Court (1.30pm BST/8.30am ET)
Alex de Minaur (11) v Novak Djokovic (6)
Mirra Andreeva (7) v Emma Navarro (10)
Jannik Sinner (1) v Grigor Dimitrov (19)
No 1 Court (1pm BST/8am ET)
Ekaterina Alexandrova (18) v Belinda Bencic
Ben Shelton (10) v Lorenzo Sonego
Iga Świątek (8) v Clara Tauson (23)
No 2 Court (11am BST/6am ET)
Key events
Now De Minaur forces break point, and he’s doing a really good job of varying angles, spins and speeds – exactly what he has to do to against Djokovic. He can’t, though, convert, tamely netting a forehand return and, though he’s given another go when Djokovic overhits a forehand, we’re soon back to deuce. At 6-1 0-1, this feels like a crucial game while, on No 2, Cobolli and Cilic are about to begin a fourth-set breaker, the latter looking for force a fifth set.
And Djokovic breaks De Minaur immediately in set two, but he can’t quite close out, forced to and from advantage. Mac notes that he’s never seen Demon look so relaxed against a top player, and it’s true that he rarely looks like he believes he can win in these situations, mainly because he almost never does – he’s already pushing the top of his athletic and technical ability, and his diminutive stature means he’s never going to have power to cover up other weaknesses. But after having to pull out of a scheduled quarter-final against Djokovic last year, he’ll feel the game owes him this.
Aha, just what we need, Calv Betton, our resident coach, messages in on Cobolli – I actually remember him telling me how good he was the first time he saw him play. Anyroad up, he says: “Very, very, very fast. Great for the game, great lad, great fun – charismatic –kind of shot-maker, plenty of flair, and he’ll eventually be a top-10, top-15 player.”
And while I’m transcribing that, the man himself breaks Cilic straight back, then holds for 2-1 5-4.
“Why is Joe Root swanning at the tennis?” wonders Mark Page. “Did we just not get thumped in thes econd Test? “Not sure this is the best use of his time. The optics alone are really bad.”
My best guess is that he’s an adult and so are his bosses. He’s allowed to enjoy himself, and a bit of relaxation is probably what he needs. I’m fairly sure that a man with 155 Tests and 13115 Test runs treats his cricket with requisite seriousness.
Elsewhere, Bencic has taken the first set against Alexandrova 7-6(4), while Cilic is on the comeback on No 2, breaking Cobolli to trail 1-2 in sets but lead 4-3 in games – it’s only the second time the Italian has lost his serve all tournament. He’s two holds away from forcing a decider that looked exceedingly unlikely an hour ago.
Sixteen unforced errors from Djokovic in set one, versus five for D-Min. “It’s incredible to see him play like this,” grouses Mac.
Alex de Minaur takes the first set against Novak Djokovic 6-1
And there it is! I cannot say I saw it coming; I doubt De Minaur saw it coming. But it’s here, and the greatest of all time has some questions to answer.
I’m delighted we’ve got Tood Woodbridge on comms for this. Regular readers of this blog will perhaps remember my regular complaints about how far tennis analysis lags behind what other sports give us; well, less so now. This breakdown of Cilic’s win over Draper is terrific, and I urge you to enjoy it; back on court, De Minaur is up 40-0 and holds three set points.
Thanks Bryan and greetings everyone. Djokovic has played beautifully until this point, and I must say I didn’t expect him to struggle today – pretty much everything De Minaur does well, he does better. And yet here we are, the Demon up 4-1 and, as I type, he holds for 5-1. Real talk, he’s not actually playing that well, Djokovic is just enduring a shocker.
What a surprise on Centre Court. Djokovic falls behind 0-40 and triple break point down on his serve. He’s able to save the first with a 126mph service winner out wide, but follows it with his second double fault of the day to fall behind a double break.
And with that, I’ll hand you over to the capable hands of Daniel Harris to carry you through the afternoon.
Alexandrova is back in business in the opening frame on No 1 Court. While serving for the set at 5-4, Bencic quickly fell triple break point down. She erased the first with a deft forehand at the net and the second with a forehand winner from the baseline early in the rally, but Alexandrova seized on the third with a forehand baseline winner to get back on level terms at 5-all.
De Minaur consolidates the break from 0-30 down for a 2-0 lead, but Djokovic makes him work for it in a game spanning 10 points over eight minutes. Meanwhile, Bencic will serve for the first set at 5-4 after the change of ends on No 1 Court, while Cilic and Cobolli have traded holds to open their fourth set on No 2 Court.
It’s a dream start for De Minaur, who breaks Djokovic to start their match on Centre Court. The seven-time Wimbledon champion fell behind 30-40, double-faulting twice along the way, before making a pair of unforced errors off the forehand side to gift his Australian foe the break.
De Minaur had won the toss and elected to return, a decision which seems to have paid off.
Cilic has just pulled out the third-set tiebreaker, winning six of the last eight points. He trails 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(4) but the quality on both ends has really lifted over the last 20 minutes.
On No 1 Court, Bencic leads 3-1 over Alexandrova in a match that’s required 24 minutes to play four games.
And Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur have taken Centre Court for their warm-up.
Cobolli and Cilic are headed for a third-set tiebreaker after the Croatian frittered away three set points in that last Cobolli service game.
It’s a promising start for Bencic on No 1 Court. The unseeded Swiss rattled off four quick points to break Alexandrova from 30-0 in the opening game, then consolidated with a hard-fought hold where she saved a pair of break points, including one that required a grueling 21-shot rally.
Over on No 1 Court, the No 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic have just gotten under way. It’s all square at 4-4 in the head-to-head between these two as they battle for a place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
For Alexandrova, this is becoming familiar territory: she’s into the second week at a slam for the third time and the second major in a row after reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros last month. Now 30, she’s bidding to break new ground and reach her first major quarter-final. The two-time ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion is among the most consistent grass-court performers of recent years with 37 wins on the surface since 2019, second only to Ons Jabeur in that span.
Bencic, meanwhile, is also looking to make a breakthrough in her ninth Wimbledon appearance. The former Eastbourne champion has reached one slam quarter-final before, during her run to the 2019 US Open semis, but never progressed this far at SW19. A win today would make her just the fourth Swiss woman in the Open era to reach the last eight here, joining Martina Hingis, Timea Bacsinszky and Viktorija Golubic. Now a mother and back on court after maternity leave, the Tokyo Olympic champion is on the brink of one of her career-best achievements.
Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer has returned to SW19 and is set to take his seat in the Royal Box to watch today’s action on Centre Court. Federer arrived on site a short while ago alongside his wife, Mirka.
Unsurprisingly, Laura Siegemund has just withdrawn from the women’s doubles alongside Beatriz Haddad Maia to proiritize her surprise quarter-final run in the singles. The 37-year-old German, currently ranked 104th, will face world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday with a chance of reaching her first career grand slam semi-final. The withdrawal has given the Belgian team of Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens a free pass to the quarters.
Cilic has won from two sets down on eight previous occasions, but not since 2020 and never at Wimbledon. Four of them came at the US Open, three at the Australian Open and one in Davis Cup play. Oddly enough, he’s managed it twice against former Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz.
Cobolli closes out the second set with a 131mph ace down the middle. He’s taken a 6-4, 6-4 lead over Cilic after 73 minutes. More impeccable serving from the Italian, who has won 19 of the last 20 points on his racket.
Meanwhile, the British doubles team of Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash are first-time Wimbledon quarter-finalists after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Argentina’s Guido Andreozzi and Brazil’s Marcelo Demoliner on No 3 Court. That’s 11 straight wins for the pair including their runs to the Queen’s Club and Eastbourne titles.
In a shock turn Cilic is broken from 40-0. He drops five straight points from there in an unfortunate patch of error-strewn play, while serving with new balls, and Cobolli will serve at 6-4, 4-3 after the change of ends. The Croatian is already up to 27 unforced errors on the day compared to 16 winners.
Cobolli goes on to breeze through a love hold, extending a run of nine straight points won. Now Cilic will serve to stay in the second set.
A deft escape from Cobolli, who holds for 6-4, 1-1 from 30-40 down. Cilic will rue that missed opportunity in a game where the Italian only managed to get one of eight first serves in. Remember: Cobolli has dropped serve only once in this tournament and has yet to lose a set.
Cobolli has taken the first set from Cilic, 6-4, after 36 minutes. The break in the Croatian’s second service game was the difference. It was a comprehensive performance on serve for the young Italian: he got 83% of his first serves in, won 17 of 20 points behind the first serve (85%) and has only dropped four points on his racket so far.
Cobolli has drawn first blood against Cilic on a windswept Court No 2, breaking for 3-1 early in the first set. The Croatian saved a break point in his opening service game then another serving at 1-2, 30-40 after the Italian misfired a backhand. But Cobolli finally broke through moments later when Cilic netted a backhand from behind the baseline early in a rally.
Jordan Thompson has withdrawn from the men’s doubles due to the hamstring injury that forced him to retire from his fourth-round singles match with Taylor Fritz on Sunday. Wimbledon Radio reports the Australian attempted a warm-up this morning in the practice courts but couldn’t continue. Thompson and partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert were scheduled to face defending champions Henry Patten of Great Britain and Harri Heliovaara of Finland in the third round. The match was set for Court 12 but was called off minutes before it began.
Heliovaara and Patten advance to the quarter-finals by a walkover, a boost for Patten, the Manningtree native enjoying another dream run on home soil. The duo are hunting a third slam title at their fifth major having only joined up in April 2024.
It’s youth versus experience on No 2 Court as Italy’s Flavio Cobolli faces 2014 US Open champion Marin Čilić in their first-ever meeting on grass. Their previous two encounters, both on clay, ended in one-sided wins for Cobolli, most recently a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 thrashing at Roland Garros just five weeks ago. But Wimbledon is a different arena, and Cilic, a former finalist here, has the grass-court pedigree to make this a much tighter affair.
As recently as last August, while the tour’s elite were competing at the US Open in New York, Cilic was toiling away at a Challenger in Manacor, ranked 1,084th in the world and fighting his way back from knee surgery. Less than a year later, he’s back in the second week of a slam and looking dangerous again.
Cobolli, 23, is enjoying the best season of his young career. He’s won titles in Bucharest and Hamburg, cracked the top 25, and is now through to the second week of a major for the first time without dropping a set. A win on Monday would make him just the eighth Italian man ever to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals – and potentially part of a historic trio with Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego should all three advance.
Cilic, now 36, upset No 4 seed Jack Draper in round two and remains a formidable force on grass, where he owns three career titles and a 34-13 Wimbledon record. He’s spent over two hours more on court than Cobolli this week, but brings a wealth of big-match experience, including 28 five-set wins and 15 slam quarter-final appearances.
The players are finishing up their warm-ups at the moment and should be under way in a couple of minutes.
Today’s order of play
Here’s a look at today’s men’s and women’s singles matches in the round of 16:
Centre Court (1.30pm BST/8.30am ET)
Alex de Minaur (11) v Novak Djokovic (6)
Mirra Andreeva (7) v Emma Navarro (10)
Jannik Sinner (1) v Grigor Dimitrov (19)
No 1 Court (1pm BST/8am ET)
Ekaterina Alexandrova (18) v Belinda Bencic
Ben Shelton (10) v Lorenzo Sonego
Iga Świątek (8) v Clara Tauson (23)
No 2 Court (11am BST/6am ET)
Preamble
The round of 16 continues today on the eighth day of the Championships at SW19 as the second week of the tournament gets into full swing and the quarterfinal picture begins to take shape.
Among the headliners, Novak Djokovic returns to Centre Court chasing history. At 38, and just months removed from knee surgery, the seven-time Wimbledon champion has looked sharp and assured: diving volleys, dancing celebrations and all. He faces the tireless Alex de Minaur, whose speed and grit could test even Djokovic’s legendary flexibility and composure. A win today would edge the Serbian one step closer to becoming the oldest grand slam singles champion in the Open era – and to his 25th major title.
Jannik Sinner, meanwhile, has been nothing short of clinical. The world No 1 hasn’t dropped serve through three rounds, and has surrendered just 17 games en route to the fourth round – a joint record in the Open era. He faces Grigor Dimitrov in a potentially stylish clash of clean ball-strikers on Centre Court.
On the women’s side, Iga Świątek continues her steady push toward a first Wimbledon title. The five-time major winner, who lifted the girls’ trophy here in 2018, faces Denmark’s Clara Tauson on No 1 Court. With all former champions already eliminated, the world No 1 is the only woman left in the bottom half of the draw who knows what it takes to win a Slam.
Elsewhere, teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva takes on Emma Navarro, while 2017 finalist Marin Čilić tries to keep his run alive against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.
By the end of play, the eight quarter-finalists in each draw will be fixed. The business end of Wimbledon has well and truly begun.