WIMBLEDON, England -- Any lapse by Novak Djokovic is brief.
When the world's No. 1 player double-faulted on his first two points in a tiebreaker Friday, he quickly regrouped to close out a victory over American qualifier Denis Kudla, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7).
"Somehow I found a way to win," Djokovic said.
As usual. He improved to 17-0 in Grand Slam matches this year, and has also won 17 consecutive matches at Wimbledon, where he is the two-time defending champion.
During a postmatch interview on court, the Serb was asked about the source of his hunger to win, and he referenced his youth in a war-torn nation.
"The way I've grown up in difficult times in the '90s for my country," Djokovic said, "failure is never an option for me, or anybody in my family. We had to find a way to find the basic needs for us to survive during those times. It was difficult. That has strengthened my character, I would say."
Djokovic's opponent Monday will be No. 17-seeded Cristian Garín of Chile, who beat Pedro Martínez 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
In other men's play, 23-year-old American Frances Tiafoe lost to Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Tiafoe thinks he was so focused on a desire to get some revenge for a third-round loss to Khachanov at Wimbledon in 2018 that he wound up with the same result against the same opponent at the same stage of the tournament.
"I played a little tight," he said. "I knew it was a good opportunity. I just wanted to win too bad."
Three years ago, Tiafoe grabbed the opening two sets against Khachanov before allowing the Russian to come back to win in five. This time, Tiafoe was never really in the match.
"I was playing tentatively. I wasn't playing so aggressive," Tiafoe said. "I was letting him dictate play."
He came into Friday in good form, having won all 29 service games during two victories this week, including an upset of No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was coming off a run to the final at the French Open.
But Tiafoe was broken three times by the 25th-seeded Khachanov.
"Not my best day by any means," Tiafoe said.
Meanwhile, the toll of tough matches in Wimbledon's two rounds was too much for 34-year-old Andy Murray when he faced No. 10-seeded Denis Shapovalov.
Murray lost 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
The Scotsman, mounting his latest comeback after two hip operations, delighted Centre Court fans with two grueling wins this week. But they had little to cheer about in Murray's match against Shapovalov, who had a 45-16 edge in winners and erased eight of the nine break points he faced.
Shapovalov is into the round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the third time.
Also on Friday, No. 5 Andrey Rublev hit 13 aces and beat No. 26 Fabio Fognini 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. No. 8 Roberto Bautista Agut swept Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (4). No. 9 Diego Schwartzman was eliminated by Márton Fucsovics, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4.