After Andrey Rublev, who awaits the winner in the quarter-finals, and then Iga Swiatek emerged victorious at the end of long battles earlier in the day, Djokovic and Hurkacz arrived on court knowing they had a little over two hours to produce a result if they were to avoid being called back for overtime on Monday.
Djokovic just about beat the clock when seeing off Stan Wawrinka in the third round, but despite a succession of swift service games, he could not manage a repeat here. Two tie-breaks meant play was halted 25 minutes before the 11pm curfew, with the defending champion 7-6 7-6 up and well on course to make it 43 straight wins on Centre Court.
By the time Hurkacz finally got the match up and running, the clock had ticked to 8:49pm to leave the players facing a race against time. That looked like being plenty as Hurkacz swiftly settled into his rhythm on serve, thundering down the aces and rattling of holds in barely a minute.
Djokovic was untroubled too, Hurkacz not winning a point on return in the opening 20 minutes of the match. The first sniff of a break came at 4-4, Djokovic getting to deuce with the help of a Hurkacz forehand that flew a few feet away from the closed roof. That door was swiftly slammed shut though, a 141mph first serve nearly taking Djokovic with it as Hurkacz held.
The second seed kept up his end of the bargain to send the set to a tie-break, the only delay to that inevitability the increasingly deliberate – to put it generously – bouncing of the ball by Djokovic before his serve. Coupled with the late hour, that could have been enough to send a few on Centre Court to sleep, had there not been a regular, and offensively loud, stream of commentary from the umpire.
Hurkacz’s imperious serving, along with an untimely double fault from Djokovic, brought up three set points for the Pole, but things unravelled from there. Rallies that required more than two swings of the Hurkacz racket had proved problematic for him and that theme reared its head again, as a forehand slapped into the net saw the third and final opportunity go. Djokovic ruthlessly punished him to take the set.
Normal serve was resumed at the start of the second, Hurkacz saving a break point to hold for 2-2 and then surviving a huge test four games later. Djokovic brought up three break points, only to see them go in a matter of seconds as three monstrous first-serves duly followed. A fourth opportunity came for Djokovic, but that came and went too as he toppled into the net in pursuit of a framed shot from Hurkacz that turned into a perfect drop volley.
To another tie-break. This time it was Djokovic who had the first chance, but he blinked first at the end of a bruising rally as Hurkacz levelled it up at 6-6. A second set point came immediately though, one he took as Hurkacz sprayed a forehand long and wide, with what proved to be the final shot of the night. The pair will return to Centre Court on Monday afternoon, following Elena Rybakina’s clash with Beatriz Haddad Maia.
