Novak Djokovic will have to cancel his day off and work overtime to book his spot in the quarter-finals against Andrey Rublev after falling foul of Wimbledon’s stubborn scheduling.

The defending champion and title favourite was leading by two sets, 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6), against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz when play was suspended at 10.35pm local time on Sunday.

Wimbledon chiefs will again be under scrutiny for their insistence on starting play no earlier than 1.30pm on Centre Court despite knowing it cannot go past the council-imposed 11pm curfew.

The 36-year-old, seven-time champion Djokovic is trying to achieve all sorts of milestones during this fortnight. As well as trying to equal Roger Federer’s men’s records for most Wimbledon championships in a row in the Open era (also shared with Bjorn Borg) and most in a career (Martina Navratilova won nine women’s trophies for the overall mark), Djokovic also can collect a 24th grand slam title.

Rublev’s diving skills, meantime, are becoming a theme at this year’s tournament after another spectacular flight across the lawns during his fourth-round win.

The 25-year-old set up match point in a five-set thriller against Alexander Bublik with a gravity-defying lunge to somehow return a backhand piledriver by his mercurial opponent.

Kazakh Bublik stood in stunned disbelief as Rublev somehow redirected the ball back into an open court – a point he said he will remember forever, especially coming on Centre Court, and one destined to be seen as one of Wimbledon’s greatest.

One point later, it was all over as Rublev reached the quarters of a grand slam for the eighth time.

Rublev had pulled off another point-winning dive in his previous match against David Goffin and at this rate he could have a show reel to take home after the tournament.

“To make this shot, I don’t know how many times in a life you will have those moments. It’s one of the highlight of my life,” Rublev said when asked about the shot after his 7-5 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 victory.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Jannik Sinner reached the last eight for the second successive year as the 21-year-old Italian broke the stubborn resistance of unseeded Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6-3 victory.

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov dispatched American 10th seed Frances Tiafoe with a convincing 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory to move into the fourth round, where he will meet Danish sixth seed Holger Rune.

“I’m 32! Honestly, for me … I’m really focusing on my side of the net and looking after my game,” Dimitrov, a former semi-finalist said when asked about his next match-up against Rune, who is 12 years his junior.

“He’s young, talented and a very dangerous player. But so am I, minus the young part!”

Denis Shapovalov, the 24-year-old Canadian and 26th seed, says he aggravated a knee injury during his 3-6 6-3 6-1 6-3 fourth-round loss to the unseeded Russian Roman Safiullin but hopes to avoid surgery.