World No 1 Novak Djokovic can win his 75th career match at Wimbledon on Friday when he takes on American qualifier Denis Kudla for a place in the last 16.
The five-time champion, who is chasing a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title, will be wary of Kudla despite his modest ranking of 114.
Kudla made the fourth round in 2015 where it took former US Open champion Marin Cilic to stop him while he also has four quarter-finals at grass court events to his name.
Djokovic will also be aware that the last time he fell to an American in the third round was in 2016 when Sam Querrey shattered his bid to win the third leg of a calendar Grand Slam.
Kudla, who was born in the Ukraine but moved to the United States with his parents on his first birthday, defeated Spanish 30th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round. He then accounted for Italian veteran Andreas Seppi.
Djokovic made the third round for the 15th time at Wimbledon with a straight sets win over Kevin Anderson. He didn’t face a single break point and committed just six unforced errors.
Former two-time champion Andy Murray, who put in a spectacular performance to beat qualifier Oscar Otte from two sets to one down on Wednesday, has a tough assignment against 10th seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada.
Murray, now down at 118 in the world, is playing the singles event for the first time since 2017 having battled hip and groin injuries.
The 22-year-old Shapovalov is in the last 32 for the first time and will be well-rested having enjoyed a walkover when Pablo Andujar withdrew from their second round tie through injury.
Shapovalov, who has never played on Centre Court, admitted he enjoyed watching Murray’s comeback to beat Otte.
Women’s second seed Aryna Sabalenka, who has yet to make a Grand Slam quarter-final, faces a tricky third round match-up with teenager Maria Camila Osorio Serrano.
The 19-year-old Colombian came through qualifying to make her Wimbledon debut and knocked out 32nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round.
Osorio, who left her Colombian home to live and train in Florida when she was just 11, won her first career title in Bogota this year.
Sabalenka played on Centre Court for the first time in her second round win over home player Katie Boulter.
Elsewhere, Ons Jabeur, the first Tunisian to get to the third round at the All England Club, takes on 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza.
Here’s the order of play for day four at Wimbledon 2021 (all timings mentioned are local London times):
Centre Court
13:30:
(21) Ons Jabeur (Tun) v (11) Garbine Muguruza (Spa)
(22) Dan Evans (Gbr) v Sebastian Korda (USA)
(10) Denis Shapovalov (Can) v Andy Murray (Gbr)
Court 1
13:00:
Ludmilla Samsonova (Rus) v Sloane Stephens (USA)
(1) Novak Djokovic (Ser) v Denis Kudla (USA)
(13) Elise Mertens (Bel) v (23) Madison Keys (USA)
Court 2
11:00:
(8) Karolina Pliskova (Cze) v Tereza Martincova (Cze)
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (Col) v (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Blr)
Dominik Koepfer (Ger) v (8) Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa)
Court 3
11:00:
(26) Fabio Fognini (Ita) v (5) Andrey Rublev (Rus)
(9) Diego Schwartzman (Arg) v Marton Fucsovics (Hun)
Court 4
11:00:
(1) Barbora Krejcikova (Cze) & Katerina Siniakova (Cze) (walkover)
Alexander Bublik (Kaz) & Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) v Rafael Matos (Bra) & Thiago Moura Monteiro (Bra)
Sarah Grey (Gbr) & Emily Webley-Smith (Gbr) v Tereza Martincova (Cze) & Marketa Vondrousova (Cze)
Divij Sharan (Ind) & Samantha Murray (Gbr) v Ariel Behar (Uru) & Renata Voracova (Cze)
Roman Jebavy (Cze) & Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) v Andre Begemann (Ger) & Vivian Heisen (Ger)
Court 5
11:00:
Facundo Bagnis (Arg) & Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spa) v (2) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) & Nicolas Mahut (Fra)
Samantha Stosur (Aus) & Coco Vandeweghe (USA) v Anna Kalinskaya (Rus) & Yulia Putintseva (Kaz)
Sander Arends (Ned) & Matwe Middelkoop (Ned) v (8) Lukasz Kubot (Pol) & Marcelo Melo (Bra)
Jonathan Erlich (Isr) & Lucie Hradecka (Cze) v Gonzalo Escobar (Ecu) & Vera Zvonareva (Rus)
Matwe Middelkoop (Ned) & Kiki Bertens (Ned) v Matthew Ebden (Aus) & Samantha Stosur (Aus)
Court 6
11:00:
Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) & Makoto Ninomiya (Jpn) v Magda Linette (Pol) & Alicja Rosolska (Pol),
Laslo Djere (Ser) & Gianluca Mager (Ita) v (6) Rajeev Ram (USA) & Joe Salisbury (Gbr),
Caroline Dolehide (USA) & Storm Sanders (Aus) v Kaja Juvan (Slo) & Ann Li (USA),
Oliver Marach (Aut) & Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) v Santiago Gonzalez (Mex) & Giuliana Olmos (Mex),
Nicholas Monroe (USA) & Renata Voracova (Cze) v Jonny O’Mara (Gbr) & Sarah Grey (Gbr)
Court 7
11:00:
(4) Nicole Melichar (USA) & Demi Schuurs (Ned) v Andreea Mitu (Rom) & Monica Niculescu (Rom), Cornelia Lister (Swe) & Patricia Maria Tig (Rom) v (7) Hao-Ching Chan (Tpe) & Latisha Chan (Tpe), Lloyd Glasspool (Gbr) & Jodie Burrage (Gbr) v Luke Bambridge (Gbr) & Asia Muhammad (USA), Marcelo Demoliner (Bra) & Luisa Stefani (Bra) v David Pel (Ned) & Rosalie Van Der Hoek (Ned)
Court 8
11:00:
Lloyd George Harris (Rsa) & Alexei Popyrin (Aus) v Austin Krajicek (USA) & Tennys Sandgren (USA),
Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Sania Mirza (Ind) v Ramkumar Ramanathan (Ind) & Ankita Raina (Ind),
Mona Barthel (Ger) & Julia Wachaczyk (Ger) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr) & Clara Tauson (Den)
Court 9
11:00:
Jeremy Chardy (Fra) & Fabrice Martin (Fra) v Federico Delbonis (Arg) & Artem Sitak (Nzl),
Roman Jebavy (Cze) & Jiri Vesely (Cze) v Alastiar Gray (Gbr) & Aidan McHugh (Gbr),
Christina McHale (USA) & Ajla Tomljanovic (Aus) v Kaitlyn Christian (USA) & Nao Hibino (Jpn),
Ryan Peniston (Gbr) & Eden Silva (Gbr) v Jeremy Chardy (Fra) & Naomi Broady (Gbr)
Court 10
11:00:
(16) Marie Bouzkova (Cze) & Lucie Hradecka (Cze) v Miyu Kato (Jpn) & Renata Voracova (Cze),
John Peers (Aus) & Jordan Thompson (Aus) v (16) Max Purcell (Aus) & Luke Saville (Aus),
Marta Kostyuk (Ukr) & Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) v Belinda Bencic (Swi) & Sofia Kenin (USA)
Court 12
11:00:
(7) Iga Swiatek (Pol) v Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom),
(17) Christian Garin (Chi) v Pedro Martinez Portero (Spa),
Viktorija Golubic (Swi) v Madison Brengle (USA),
(5) Ivan Dodig (Cro) & Filip Polasek (Svk) v Norbert Gombos (Svk) & Pedro Martinez Portero (Spa)
Court 14
11:00:
(7) Jamie Murray (Gbr) & Bruno Soares (Bra) v Nicholas Monroe (USA) & Vasek Pospisil (Can),
Varvara Gracheva (Rus) & Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo) v Zarina Diyas (Kaz) & Anastasia Rodionova (Aus),
Ken Skupski (Gbr) & Neal Skupski (Gbr) v (4) Marcel Granollers (Spa) & Horacio Zeballos (Arg),
John-Patrick Smith (Aus) & Catherine McNally (USA) v Andrei Vasilevski (Blr) & Arina Rodionova (Aus),
Marc Lopez (Spa) & Marie Bouzkova (Cze) v Max Purcell (Aus) & Marta Kostyuk (Ukr)
Court 15
11:00:
(3) Juan Sebastian Cabal (Col) & Robert Farah (Col) v Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) & David Pel (Ned),
Sabrina Santamaria (USA) & Tamara Zidansek (Slo) v (13) Nadiia Kichenok (Ukr) & Raluca Olaru (Rom),
Greet Minnen (Bel) & Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel) v (15) Viktoria Kuzmova (Svk) & Arantxa Rus (Ned),
Andre Goransson (Swe) & Casper Ruud (Nor) v (9) Kevin Krawietz (Ger) & Horia Tecau (Rom)
Court 17
11:00: Paula Badosa Gibert (Spa) & Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spa) v Bernarda Pera (USA) & Rosalie Van Der Hoek (Ned),
(12) Cori Gauff (USA) & Catherine McNally (USA) v Daria Kasatkina (Rus) & Ellen Perez (Aus),
Tomislav Brkic (Bih) & Nikola Cacic (Ser) v Egor Gerasimov (Blr) & Yoshihito Nishioka (Jpn)
Inputs from AFP
