Novak Djokovic was able to qualify for the Wimbledon quarterfinals after fending off Alex de Minaur’s challenge in the round of 16 at the Centre Court on Monday. The Australian won the opening set convincingly by 6-1 as the Serbian failed to find his A-game in windy conditions.

However, the seven-time Wimbledon champion broke de Minaur’s serve in the opening game of the second set and he didn’t look back from there on. In the fourth set, Djokovic was trailing by 1-4 but won the next five games on the bounce to advance to the next round.

In the end, Djokovic earned a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win to qualify for the quarterfinals for the 16th time at SW19. 

“I am still trying to process the whole match and what happened on court,” Djokovic said. “It wasn’t a great start for me, it was a great start for him. He broke my serve three times in the first set. Very windy, swirly conditions on the court. He was just managing better with the play from the back of the court.

“I didn’t have many solutions but I managed to reset myself. It was kind of a tough game to close out the second set. Perhaps that was a momentum shift where I just felt like ‘OK, I am back in the game’. It was a lot of cat-and-mouse play, a lot of slices and he is so good at it. He is one of the quickest players we have on the Tour and on grass where the ball bounces so low, it is extremely difficult to play someone like him if you are not feeling the ball really well. He exposes all your weaknesses and I was pleased to hang in tough in the right moments.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic admitted it was a challenging game for him against de Minaur and he wished he had a serve and volley like Roger Federer, who was present in the Royalty box.

“It was a very difficult encounter, some very challenging moments for me. Sometimes, I wish I had a serve and volley and a nice touch from the gentleman who is standing right there, that would help,” Djokovic said with a smile, acknowledging Federer.

Djokovic will next take on Flavio Cobolli in the quarters on Wednesday.