Wimbledon: Coco Gauff took center stage and Djokovic continues to dominate

‘Coco’ Gauff saved two match points in thrilling fashion that had Centre Court on their feet, booking her spot in the fourth round.

Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff played her first match on Centre Court, and clearly thrived in the spotlight. Perhaps it was nerves that had her down in the first set against Slovenian Polona Hercog. The 15-year-old Gauff soon bounced back during the second set tie break, saving two match points on the way. The Centre Court crowd was putty in her hands as she leapt in delight, fighting to produce another upset in the third set.

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The come-from-behind victory was the third upset the teenage sensation has produced on her way to the round of 16. At age 15, she is the youngest WTA player to get this far at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati, Steffi Graf, and Andrea Jaegar.

Prior to Wimbledon, the American wunderkid was ranked No. 313. The Hercog win will skyrocket her to the Top 150. Next up for the Florida native– whose dad owns a sports bar in Delray Beach– will be her biggest challenge, Simona Halep. A win over the former world No. 1 would put Gauff into the Top 100. She’s sure to only keep rising. And fast.

Coco Gauff– represented by Roger Federer’s TEAM 8, and a prodigy of Patrick Mouratoglou (Serena Williams’s coach)– is certainly the Cinderella story of the tournament.

"“Right now, it’s just relief that’s over,” said an ecstatic Gauff after the win over Hercog.” It was an extraordinary match and she played unbelievable.”“I guess people said Court 1 could be my court, but Centre is my court too,” was her confident reply.“I always knew I could come back and I just kind of went for my shots. The crowd were amazing and on match point, I’m just super grateful they believed in me.”"

Djokovic in full defensive mode

On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic struggled in the second set against Polish player Hubert Hurkacz, but was able to recover quickly to book his fourth round spot with Frenchman Ugo Humbert, 7-5, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4. Djokovic has earned the nickname “Mr. Concistency” and has certainly shown it against the next generation of players, taking out the 22-year-old, much-tauted Hurkacz on Friday. He will need to do the same with 21-year-old Humbert to get to the quarters. Of the Big 3, the 15-time slam champ has the easiest draw, with the potential match up with 15th seed Milos Raonic his biggest challenge. Raonic defeated American Reilly Opelka 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-1.

The wins for the defending champion have certainly gone easier than the controversial woes of the ATP Council, where he has served as president. His testy back-and-forth with tennis journalist Bill Simmons in the presser is an indication of the difficulties he has had to handle in this role.

Auger-Aliassime “embarrased” by loss

Humbert took out Canada’s rising star Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, who took the loss hard.

"“Today, it’s weird to describe. Pressure got to me, and it got to a point where it was a bit embarrassing,” said Auger-Aliassime.“It was just tough. I just wasn’t finding ways. I think he just did what he had to do. From my end it was pretty embarrassing.”"

At age 21 only, the young Canadian was bidding to be the youngest player to make the fourth round since Bernard Tomic accomplished the feat in 2011.

Anderson and Goffin have opposite results

Last year’s Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson went out in straight sets to Guido Pella, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6. A serious elbow injury has hampered the South African all year and he is now turning to the hard court season.

David Goffin avenged his Australian Open loss to Daniil Medvedev in a match that went the distance, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. The Belgian dug deep to comeback after being down in the fifth set 4-1.

“It was an amazing feeling. But I felt that I was a little bit the better player during the whole match,” Goffin said afterwards.

“But you never know with a player like Daniil, who sometimes is aggressive in just a few points, and then he serves, and then few aces, could be 4-1 like in the fifth. But I felt like I had the game and the shots to come back. Physically I was feeling great, as well.”

Caro and that darn Hawkeye, the match that never really took off, plus Martić’s good year continues

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki got distracted by a few disastrous Hawkeye calls— a bizarre anomaly– that allowed the match to get away from her, losing to China’s Shuai Zhang in two frustrating sets, 6-4, 6-2.

The match between Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka on paper seemed like one of the matches of the tournament, but was a much more tepid affair in reality. Vika was indecisive, inconsistent, and continued her trend of falling short in the crucial matches. Halep was the more efficient of the two and coasted to victory in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.

Croatian Petra Martić took out American sensation Danielle Collins in a back-and-forth match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to cap off a terrific year that has included her first WTA title and getting to the quarters at the French.

The fourth round matches begin on Saturday, including four fantastic American women Serena Williams (of course), Sloane Stephens, and surprise new contenders Alison Riske, and Lauren Davis. Stay tuned here for all your Wimbledon and tennis coverage.