The latest-ever finish at Wimbledon saw third seed Serbia's Novak Djokovic scrape through against Belgium's Olivier Rochus yesterday night
The latest-ever finish at Wimbledon saw third seed Serbia's Novak Djokovic scrape through against Belgium's Olivier Rochus yesterday night.
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| Novak Djokovic reacts during his gruelling first round match against Olivier Rochus at Wimbledon yesterday. PICS/AFP |
The third seed looked on his way out when the Centre Court roof was pulled across - basically so the floodlights could be used -- with Rochus two sets to one up, but he fought his way back under the lights to clinch a 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
The match concluded just two minutes before the deadline for play to stop, and made it the tournament's latest-ever finish, eclipsing Andy Murray's late win at last year's championships by 20 minutes.
Djokovic has been struggling of late -- both with allergy problems and a tweaked service action -- and given he also had a poor record against the pint-sized Belgian it was perhaps no surprise to see him in early trouble.
Rochus clinched the first break in the seventh game. He then held his advantage to win the opening set, but it was not long until Djokovic responded.
He raced into a 5-0 lead and that was a gap too wide to bridge. Rochus, however, broke at the start of the third set at which point Djokovic looked to be struggling with the breathing problems which have affected him often throughout his career.
The Belgian took the set but his momentum was halted by the stoppage to close the roof. In a thrilling conclusion to the fourth set, the third seed missed set points on his opponent's serve before saving three break points on his own to level the match at two sets apiece.
The topsy-turvy nature of the clash continued at the start of the decider, with the pair sharing breaks, but potentially the key game came at 2-2 as Djokovic made it three in a row, letting out a huge roar as a delicate volley hit its mark. He was soon celebrating a win which had kept the fans in the famous old court.
Earlier, Roger Federer averted one of the biggest shocks in Wimbledon history when the defending men's champion recovered from two sets down to beat Colombia's Alejandro Falla in the first round. "I've lost many matches this season I should have won and today I won a match I should have lost. He played incredible," Federer said.
