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Novak Djokovic cups ear to Wimbledon crowd during comeback win over Alex de Minaur

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Novak Djokovic produced a gripping fightback to follow his century of wins at Wimbledon with one of his most gutsy, and book a place in the quarter finals. Saturday's imperious victory over fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanivic had seen Djokovic become just the third player in history to notch 100 wins at Wimbledon, after Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer.

And Federer took his seat in the Royal Box to watch his old sparring partner deliver a knockout blow to Alex De Minaur, to continue his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam title. But Djokovic had to do it the hard way, coming from a set down against the stubborn Australian to triumph 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

This had always looked a tall order for De Minaur, who had lost his last 11 games against top 10 opponents. Let alone matches against the most successful men's player in history. But Centre Court was stunned into silence when De Minaur took the first set 6-1.

The Australian showed seven-time champion Djokovic utter disdain with some of the shots he fired past him.

Wimbledon legend John McEnroe described it as the worst set of tennis he'd ever seen Djokovic produce. While Djokovic looked disgusted with himself.

Was Federer sticking pins into a voodoo doll of his old rival, in the hope he wouldn't go on to match his record haul of eight titles here at SW19? Or did Djokovic just like making life hard for himself?

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It appeared so, because Djokovic broke De Minaur's serve in the opening game of the second set to show glimpses of his old self. His rival was not reading the script, though, and broke straight back in the next game.

In what turned out to be a bizarre set, back came Djokovic to break De Minaur again in the fourth game after winning a 34-stroke rally, to go 3-1 ahead. He cupped his hand to his ear, asking for some more backing from the crowd.

But it was De Minaur making the noise, taking the second break point in the sixth game to level the set at 3-3. Djokovic had been broken five times in less than 90 minutes.

Djokovic refused to panic, and responded by breaking De Minaur to love in the next game to take the lead once again. Wasn't serving supposed to be an advantage at this level?

De Minaur, partner of British No.1 Katie Boulter, was wasting chances to kick Djokovic when he was down.

And Djokovic let out a huge roar (of relief probably), when he broke with recent tradition, and held his serve to take the second set 6-4 and level the match.

Djokovic had a foothold in the match, and once this happens the rest, as they say, is history.

The world No.6 has lost just two games on the Wimbledon grass this decade, and showed why by taking the third set 6-4 to close in on another victory.

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And considering Djokovic had only lost one Grand Slam game since 2010 when leading 2-1, it showed the size of the task facing De Minaur. But his stroll to the finishing line was anything but.

De Minaur refused to buckle, and broke Djokovic (again) to charge into a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. We appeared to be heading for a decider, but true champions produce the goods when it matters most.

And Djokovic rolled back the years to produce some inspired tennis, reeling off five games on the spin in just 15 minutes, to end De Minaur's brave challenge and book a place in the last eight.

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