Wimbledon: Djokovic breezes past Cachin to maintain astonishing winning streak on Centre Court

Novak Djokovic won against Pedro Cachin 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4). He’ll face Australian Jordan Thompson in the next round

Novak Djokovic - (c) Action Plus / Panoramic

Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon 2023 – (c) Action Plus / Panoramic

Jamie Malachy

July 3, 2023

Wimbledon •First round • completed

See draw

P. CachinvsN. Djokovic

Novak Djokovic overcame the challenge of Argentinian Pedro Cachin with very little trouble, winning 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance to the second round of Wimbledon and bring his winning streak on the hallowed turf of Centre Court to 40 straight matches. He will play Jordan Thompson of Australia in the second round.

The match was disrupted for more than an hour after the first set, with rain forcing the closure of the roof and the court surface not drying sufficiently due to humidity on the players’ return.

This led to a somewhat farcical situation in which the seven-time champion himself was wiping down the court surface with a towel in an attempt to restart a match that was otherwise posing little difficulties for Djokovic, lasting only two hours and twelve minutes in total.

Despite falling a break behind early in the first set, Djokovic – seeded second behind Carlos Alcaraz at this year’s Championships – broke straight back before taking the opening set.

Following the rain delay, the Serb picked up where he left off against what was a commendable effort from the Argentine. The second set went the same way as the first, Djokovic again breaking twice but this time without reply.

By the third and final set, Cachin had become comfortable enough on court to force Djokovic to a tiebreak, both players backing up their serves well.

Despite the enthusiastic support from the Centre Court crowd for the Argentine, the tiebreak had an air of inevitability about it as Djokovic once again showed his masterful form in breakers to take the match in comfortable fashion.

“This court is the holy grail, the temple of tennis,” Djokovic said during his on-court interview.

“It doesn’t get much better than Wimbledon really… Each year I come back and connect with that boy who was dreaming in Serbia to win the biggest tournament in the world.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to be here.”

Djokovic’s 2023 Wimbledon campaign is officially off and running.

London (Grand Slam), other first-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, most recent results first):