By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) – Four-times defending champion and hot favourite Novak Djokovic began his record quest with a straight-sets Wimbledon victory over a willing but outgunned Argentine Pedro Cachin on Centre Court on Monday.
Serbian Djokovic, 36, is seeking a men’s record-extending 24th Grand Slam title that would also draw him level with Australia’s Margaret Court, to match Roger Federer’s eight Wimbledons and equal Federer and Bjorn Borg’s record of five successive men’s singles crowns.
Although Cachin claimed an early break in a competitive first set, the only time Djokovic looked inconvenienced was when complaining about the risk of slipping on a mildly damp court after a shower caused a 70-minute delay during which the roof was closed and reopened.
He ramped up the quality through the second set but Cachin showed admirable fighting quality to take the third into a tiebreak on serve before Djokovic came through 6-3 6-3 7-6(4).
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
