London: Defending champion Novak Djokovic survived a barrage from big-hitting Kevin Anderson to reach his seventh successive Wimbledon quarter-final on Tuesday.
The top seed came from behind to win 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 in a last-16 tie suspended due to bad light on Monday at the end of the fourth set.
The Serb, who has now reached 25 Grand Slam quarter-finals in a row, goes on to face Croatia’s US Open champion Marin Cilic for a place in the semi-finals.
Anderson, the South African 14th seed, fired 40 aces and 71 winners but committed 41 unforced errors.
Djokovic crashed 43 winners past his opponent but hit just 19 unforced errors.
After three hours and two minutes of twilight combat on Monday, Djokovic and Anderson were forced off court with their last 16 clash tantalisingly poised at two sets all and their Wimbledon audience begging for more.
The match was halted as dusk closed in after world number one and defending champion Djokovic had fought back from two sets down having been thoroughly outplayed by a fired up Anderson before rediscovering his A-game.
Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka had earlier claimed comfortable victories.
The action elsewhere was remarkably tame in comparison to the ebb and flow of the drama on Court One.
Few had predicted Anderson would be able to mix it with Djokovic, except maybe the Serb himself who said the statuesque 2.03 metre South African was in the form of his life heading into the match.
He was not wrong. Within a short time he was two sets down as Anderson served superbly and happily went toe-to-toe with Djokovic from the back of the court, a tactic with which few succeed.
Federer was given the swiftest of workouts against 20th-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who became the latest player to exit in double quick time at the hands of the seven-time champion without making an impact on the Swiss’s serve.
At one stage it looked like the Spaniard would struggle to finish the match as the trainer was called onto court to tend to an ankle injury, but he battled on in a 6-2 6-2 6-3 defeat.
The result extended a remarkable run of serving by Federer, who has not been broken in eight straight matches and 106 games, and set up a quarter-final with French 12th seed Gilles Simon, who surprised former finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-3 6-2.
Murray’s bid for a second Wimbledon title continued largely untroubled, with the third seed emerging unscathed from the crosshairs of Ivo Karlovic.
The giant Croat fired down 29 aces and regularly tipped the speed gun over 130mph but Murray made the most of his chances and, bar a brief wobble when he lost the third set, claimed a comfortable 7-6(7) 6-4 5-7 6-4 victory.
There was no upset in sight as Wawrinka edged Belgium’s David Goffin 7-6(3) 7-6(7) 6-4.
