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Novak Djokovic overcame an uncharacteristically unsteady start to avoid what would have been his earliest exit at Wimbledon since 2016, coming through for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 11th-seeded Alex de Minaur in the fourth round Monday.
With Roger Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon winner, sitting in the front row of the Royal Box, very little went right at the outset for the 38-year-old Djokovic on the grass below during a breezy afternoon with the temperature in the 60s Fahrenheit (teens Celsius), a week after matches were contested in record-breaking heat.
But Djokovic turned things around enough to grab the middle two sets and then really surged at the end after trailing 4-1 in the fourth. He took the last five games and 14 of the final 15 points.
His bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam singles trophy overall will continue against No. 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. Cobolli reached his first major quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) victory over 2014 U.S. Open champion and two-time major runner-up Marin Cilic.
Djokovic will be appearing in his 63rd Slam quarterfinal.
Dabrowski, Routliffe moving on
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe, of New Zealand, advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals with a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) win over Hungary’s Fanny Stollar and Russia’s Irina Khromacheva on Monday.
The No. 2 seeds won 82 per cent of their first-service points, while putting 73 per cent of them in play, to win the match in one hour 48 minutes against the 13th-seeded Stollar and Khromacheva.
Dabrowski and Routliffe reached the final at the All England Club last year, but the 2023 U.S. Open champions fell to Kateřina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States.

Siniakova and Townsend, who advanced to the quarterfinals Sunday, are the top seeds at this year’s tournament.
The 33-year-old Dabrowski also lost in the championship game at the grass-court Grand Slam in 2019 with then-partner Xu Yifan of China.
Dabrowski is the only Canadian remaining at Wimbledon. She and Routliffe will next face No. 8 seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens of Belgium for a spot in the semifinal.