LONDON: Novak Djokovic remained firmly in cruise control on Monday to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals as he swatted aside France's Ugo Humbert, the latest of tennis's up-and-comers to show promise but ultimately fall short.
With the early Wimbledon exits of the game's brightest starlets - Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov - the hunt for a worthy successor to Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer seems as futile as ever. Significantly, however, that record was set at this year's French Open when once again tennis's old stagers remained stubbornly awkward to beat.
Djokovic flashed a brilliant backhand return to break in the fourth game of the first set, which he took in 32 minutes, and broke again in the third and seventh games of the second set.