Wimbledon, England – Novak Djokovic isn't taking anyone lightly at Wimbledon, especially after the early exits of former champions Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Nadal went out in the first round and Federer followed in round two, but the top-seeded Serbian has not dropped a set in winning each of his first three matches this week at the All England Club.
Djokovic made short work of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy on Saturday in the third round, cruising to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory in a mere 86 minutes. The 2011 champion blistered 38 winners and committed just three unforced errors. He broke serve five times and didn't face a break point against his own dominant serve.
Next up for the world No. 1 will be resurgent German veteran Tommy Haas. The 35-year-old former world No. 2 advanced Saturday with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Haas is playing Wimbledon for the 14th time and has advanced past the fourth round only once -- a semifinal run in 2009.
Haas, after first-round exits each of the past two years, is seeded 13th this week thanks to a win in Munich, a runner-up in San Jose and a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open. He had his run at Roland Garros stopped by Djokovic with a straight-set loss after beating him in the fourth round at the Miami Masters.
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer nearly became the third top-five seed eliminated in the first week, but rallied for a 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine.
Ferrer, a quarterfinalist at the AEC for the first time last year and the runner-up at this year's French Open, will next meet Croatia's Ivan Dodig, who was comfortably ahead 6-0, 6-1, 1-0 when Dutchman Ivan Sjisling retired.
Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin del Potro were among the early winners Saturday, while Frenchman Richard Gasquet was sent home.
The seventh-seeded Berdych bounced back from a tough first set and earned a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over South Africa's Kevin Anderson, while the eighth-seeded del Potro cruised to a 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 triumph over Slovenia's Grega Zemlja.
Next up for Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up, will be Australia's Bernard Tomic, who took out the ninth-seeded Gasquet in 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) fashion.
As for del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champ from Argentina will next meet Italy's Andreas Seppi, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-4 winner over Japanese 12th seed Kei Nishikori.
A quartet of matches rescheduled from Friday were also completed Saturday.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco posted a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and will next play Frenchman Kenny De Schepper, who advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 triumph over Argentina's Juan Monaco. Also, Poland's Lukasz Kubot thumped Frenchman Benoit Paire, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, and 20th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny notched a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win over Serbia's Viktor Troicki to set up a fourth-round match against Andy Murray.
"Will be a really tough match for me," said Youzhny about playing the reigning U.S. Open champ and last year's Wimbledon runner-up. "I need to be just ready to play and enjoying the Centre Court because not every year you can play against top players on the Centre Court."
Sunday will be the traditional day of rest in the London suburb with all eight fourth-round matches scheduled for Monday.
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