LONDON: It was business as usual for top seed Novak Djokovic as the Serbian dismantled the challenge of Chile's Cristian Garin with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory to advance to the last eight of Wimbledon and keep his title defence intact at the grasscourt major.
The 25-year-old Garin, seeded 17th, had never played Djokovic on grass before and soon realised he did not have the resources to trouble the Serbian on a sun-baked Centre Court.
Djokovic won the first eight points of the match and never took his foot off the pedal during the one hour 48 minutes, dominating from the baseline and the net against the Chilean.
He lost only 13 points on his own serve and broke his opponent five times to stay on course for a 20th Grand Slam title that would tie him with great rivals Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal for the most major men's titles.
A sixth Wimbledon trophy on Sunday would also move the 34-year-old closer to the Golden Slam, with the Tokyo Olympics and the U.S. Open to be played on his favourite hard courts.
The serve was not at full throttle and the strokes were often rather wayward, but that did not stop Ash Barty from reaching the quarter-finals for the first time with a 7-5 6-3 win over French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Long tipped as a future Wimbledon champion, the Australian world No. 1 has had to wait nine long years since making her main draw debut in 2012 to finally put herself in the last-eight mix at the grasscourt major.
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka battled past a determined Elena Rybakina 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Karen Khachanov spearheaded a Russian assault in the fourth round as he beat last-standing American Sebastian Korda in a five-set dog fight to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
The 25th seed needed four attempts to finish Korda off in a titanic final set, three times failing to hold serve to win the match but eventually coming through 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.
Matteo Berrettini stepped up his bid to join a select band of players to complete the Queen's Club-Wimbledon double in the same year with a fluent 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 fourth round win over All England Club debutant Ilya Ivashka.
In other fourth round matches in men's section, 10th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 while Marton Fucsovics stunned 5th seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
In women's section, 8th seed Karolina Pliskova reached last 8 stage as she beat Ludmilla Samsonova 6-2, 6-3 while Karolina Muchova thrashed PaulaBadosa 7-6, 6-4. Agencies
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