Wimbledon: Djokovic saves set point to beat Kudla, enters round 4

World number one Novak Djokovic fought an intense game against American tennis player Denis Kudla on Friday to advance to the fourth round of the ongoing Wimbledon Championships.

The Serbian player defeated Kudla in three straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) with the win in the third set coming after being trailing at the start of the essay.

Djokovic had played against Kudla twice before with similar results including a straight-sets win in the second round at The Championships 2019.

In the first set, Djokovic got over the line with a score of 6-4 and then took the second set 6-3 to pull off the driver's seat.

The third set however witnessed an intense game as Kudla took the lead in the first few minutes before Djokovic equalised the scores.

However, Kudla again took the lead as he went toe to toe in the third set, all the way to the tie-break before Djokovic again came back to seal the game.

Djokovic will next lock horns with 17th seed Cristian Garin, who defeated Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Earlier in the day, Star India player Sania Mirza and her mixed doubles partner Rohan Bopanna defeated compatriots Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanathan in the first round of Wimbledon Championships.

Sania and Bopanna beat Ankita and Ramanathan in two straight sets 6-2, 7-6. The first set was rather easy for the experienced duo as they clinched the game with a considerable margin.

However, Ankita and Ramanathan gave their all in the second set, and Sania and Bopanna had to fight hard to come out with flying colours.

The all-Indian contest lasted for one hour and nine minutes as Sania and her partner won 69 points, 11 more than their opponents.

( With inputs from ANI )