LONDON – 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 will face 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomáš 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 Müller 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.
Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was up next on Centre Court against French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. Johanna Konta was then scheduled to play Simona Halep.
On No. 1 Court, Garbine Muguruza was playing Svetlana Kuznetsova, with Magdalena Rybarikova and CoCo Vandeweghe to follow.
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.
CHRIS LEHOURITES
