Novak Djokovic cruises into Wimbledon quarters
Venus Williams becomes oldest quarter-finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994
Novak Djokovic played the first match of this year's Wimbledon tournament under a closed roof on centre court, and he won it in straight sets.
The three-time champion at the All England Club beat Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 Tuesday in a fourth-round match that was postponed from Monday.
During the third set, with Djokovic already up a break, the second-seeded Serb asked for a medical timeout and a trainer examined and stretched his right shoulder. Djokovic appeared to grimace in pain a couple of times as his shoulder was being checked.
"It's been something that I've been dragging back and forth for a while now," Djokovic said. "But I'm still managing to play, which is the most important thing."
Djokovic said the courts are among the worst he's played on in his 13 years at the All England Club.
"[The] courts, honestly, are not that great this year and many players feel the same, but it is what it is," Djokovic said in a television interview after his match ended. "I'm sure they're trying their best, but I've played on better courts."
Djokovic initially expressed his disappointment with the court condition following a third-round victory over Ernests Gulbis on Saturday.
On Tuesday, playing with the roof closed, Djokovic could be seen after points picking up or kicking away small portions of grass that had loosened up on the baseline.
The second-seeded Serb lodged his disappointment with chair umpire Carlos Bernardes during the match and pointed out the issue afterward.
"He wanted me to show him, so I showed him," Djokovic said at a news conference. "His reaction wasn't that great."
Djokovic will face 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, a man he has beaten 25 times in 27 matches, on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
The men traditionally have Tuesday off at Wimbledon, but Rafael Nadal's five-set loss to Gilles Muller on Monday forced Djokovic's match to be pushed back a day.
The rain started at about 11:30 a.m. The opening match on centre court was due to start at noon, so the roof was closed for the first time this year. The rain came and went into the afternoon, forcing the delay of the first women's quarterfinal match on No. 1 court.
There was a brief rain delay on the opening day of the tournament, but the roof stayed open and the rain went away.
Djokovic was broken only once in his match, in the second set. But the 12-time major champion, who won the Wimbledon title in 2011, '14 and '15, broke Mannarino early in the third and advanced to the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the ninth time.
Mannarino has never before reached the quarterfinals at any of the four Grand Slam tournaments. He also lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2013. Last year, he lost to Djokovic in the second round at Wimbledon, also in straight sets.
Venus reaches semifinals again
Playing at Wimbledon for the 20th time, Venus Williams is in the semifinals for the 10th time.
The five-time champion at the All England Club advanced to the last four for the second year in a row by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 Tuesday under a closed roof on centre court.
Williams, who is 37 years old, made her Wimbledon debut a few months before Ostapenko was born. She last won the title in 2008, but reached the semifinals last year and the Australian Open final this year.
"I love it. I try really hard," Williams said of tennis. "There's no other explanation. You do your best while you can. That's what I'm doing."
On the other side of the draw, 2015 Wimbledon runner-up and 2016 French Open champion Garbine Muguruza defeated two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. Muguruza saved all three break points she faced and did a good job of defending, focused more on keeping the ball in the court than going for winners.
"If she plays like she played today," Kuznetsova said, "she has all the chances to win the title."
Muguruza's semifinal opponent will be 24th-seeded unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who is ranked 87th and had never even been past the third round in her 35 previous career majors.
The 28-year-old beat 25th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3 in a match that started on No. 1 court but finished under the roof on centre court because of rain.
Williams went up a break early in both sets against Ostapenko, the French Open champion. But the 20-year-old Latvian broke back in the second set and pushed the score to 5-5. A few unforced errors later, though, and Williams broke again for a 6-5 lead before serving out the match.
Williams ended up with eight aces and only 13 winners. Ostapenko had one ace and 20 winners.
"Been working on that serve," Williams said. "It's working out for me just in time, just for these later rounds. I'd like to think that I can continue to rely on that as the matches continue."