Djokovic advances to the quarter finals at Eastbourne

Novak Djokovic passed his first grass court test of the season on Wednesday, defeating Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-3 to reach the last 8 in Eastbourne.

Djokovic brushing up on his grass game

The Serb is playing a pre-Wimbledon event for the first time since 2010 and will next face the winner from a pair of Americans, either Donald Young or Jared Donaldson.

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The three-time Wimbledon champion claimed his fifth victory in as many attempts against Pospisil, who is now 4-22 lifetime against top 10 opponents.

“This was my first official grass court match this year. I'm glad that I came here to Eastbourne. I have had a great couple of days of training with good players with different styles”, Djokovic told reporters after the match. “Yesterday it obviously wasn't really enjoyable to see it raining all day. But today we almost played a full match, so I'm glad about that. I felt good on the court, considering it's the first match. It was a really, really solid win. I'm happy with it”.

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Djokovic, who will be advised by Andre Agassi at Wimbledon, is the second-highest-ranked men's player to ever compete at the Aegon International behind then-number two Marcelo Rios in 1998.

Medvedev and Zverev through to the quarters

In the men's first round, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev knocked out fifth seed Sam Querrey, beating the American 6-3, 7-5. German Mischa Zverev, seeded sixth, beat Ryan Harrison of the US 6-4, 7-6 (11/9).

On the women's side, Roland Garros finalist Simona Halep rallied to beat China's Duan Ying-Ying 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 while Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-0, 6-4.

The first practice had to wait today due to rain ☔️. But you know what they say... No rain, no gain. Or was it something else? 😂 pic.twitter.com/W9cXwpUqv2 — Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) 24 June 2017