LONDON — Defending champion Novak Djokovic was beaten 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) by American Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon third round on Saturday.
The Serbian top seed trailed by two sets overnight after the Court One match was interrupted by rain on Friday. Querrey, 29, ended Djokovic’s 30-match winning streak at grand slams. It was Djokovic’s first loss before the quarterfinal of a grand slam tournament since 2009 when he also bowed out in the third round at the French Open.
Querrey is the 28th seed in the tournament.
“His game was brutal today, especially his serve,” the 12-times grand slam champion told reporters. “Well done to Sam, he overpowered me today.”
Querrey showed great composure, saving 11 out of 12 break points in the fourth set, several with aces, as Djokovic tried everything to take the match into a deciding set.
“It’s incredible, especially to do it at Wimbledon, the biggest tournament in the world,” Querrey said.
“I am so ecstatic right now, so happy and that’s about it.”
“I think that today I played the break points really well. Every time he had a break point I was able to come up with a big serve. And in the end I just fought the tiebreak and got a couple of loose errors and that was it.”
Meanwhile, Serena Williams was fined $10,000 on Saturday for unsportsmanlike conduct when she smashed her racket repeatedly against the turf after dropping the first set against fellow American Christina McHale at Wimbledon.
The No. 1-seeded Williams’ fine was from her second-round 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4 victory over fellow American Christina McHale at Centre Court on Friday.
After losing the first set, Williams returned to her chair and slammed her racket against the ground several times before tossing it backward on the slick grass where it landed in the lap of a cameraman positioned in the photo pit.
After the match, Williams said she expected to be fined for her tirade, even joking that she has not yet met her quota on smashing rackets this season.
“I’ve cracked a number of rackets throughout my career,” Williams said. “I’ve gotten fined a number of times for cracking rackets. In fact, I look at it like I didn’t crack one at the French Open or Rome, so I was doing really good. I don’t want to go too long without cracking a racket. You know, I’m on track. I try to crack a certain amount a year. I’m a little behind this year, so it was good.”
Viktor Troicki also was fined $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Troicki, a Serb seeded 25th, was punished for his tirade against chair umpire Damiano Torella at the end of a five-set loss in the second round on Thursday.