By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) -Seven-times Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic showed that he remains a real threat for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title at the age of 38 with a clinical 6-3 6-2 6-0 second-round destruction of Briton Dan Evans on Centre Court on Thursday.
The Serb continues to rage against the dying of the light and showed why he has identified the grass of Wimbledon as his best chance of adding to his extraordinary tally in a superb all-round performance where he looked as sharp and fit as at any time in his incredible career.
He was never remotely troubled on serve until the final game of the match, while wildcard Evans had to scramble for almost everything on his – saving nine first-set break points before eventually succumbing on the 10th.
Djokovic continued to dominate as Evans, who beat him in their only previous meeting on clay four years ago, saw his tame sliced backhands repeatedly crashed back past him as the sixth seed romped home.
Twenty years after first setting foot on the Wimbledon grass Djokovic is the most dangerous of floaters.
Since losing in the quarter-finals in 2017 he has reached the last six finals, winning the first four but losing the last two to Carlos Alcaraz, and it would be a brave man to bet against him making it seven in a row on Thursday’s evidence.
“He (Evans) can cause a lot of trouble if you’re not on top of your game, which I think I was to be honest from the very beginning,” Djokovic said.
“Technically, tactically I knew exactly what I needed to do and I executed perfectly. Sometimes you have these kind of days, where everything goes your way, everything flows and it’s good to be in the shoes and holding a racket on a day like this.”
The tone was set almost from the start, with Djokovic racing through his service games and Evans having to fight for everything.
Roared on by a hopeful home crowd the 35-year-old Brit saved four break points in a marathon fourth game, three in the sixth and another two in the eighth, before Djokovic finally broke at the 10th attempt.
Evans was ranked as high as 21st in the world two years ago, but he has plummeted to 154th and his backhand slice was totally ineffective as Djokovic teed off on it with unerring accuracy.
The match soon had an inevitability about it as the Serb moved seamlessly through the second set and then raced to a 5-0 lead in the third before Evans finally forced two break points, only for Djokovic to snuff out the danger.
It put him into the third round for the 19th time – a men’s record in the Open era – at a tournament he loves above all others.
“I’ve said this a million times before, but I have to repeat it, Wimbledon still stays the most special tournament in my heart, the one that I always dreamed of winning when I was a kid,” he said.
“It’s the beginning of the tournament, but yes I’m aware of the history on the line and I’m thinking about the big things that I can make in this tournament.”
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris)
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