London - Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a shoulder injury scare to reach the Wimbledon fourth round on Friday with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over France's Gilles Simon, his seventh successive victory over the Frenchman.
Djokovic, the 2011 champion, needed a medical timeout to receive treatment and take a painkiller after hurting his left shoulder in a spectacular diving attempt to reach a Simon drive in the sixth game of the third set on Centre Court.
But the Serb overcame the scare to set up a clash with French 14th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the quarter-finals.
Djokovic admitted he was shaken by his fall and finished the match in some discomfort, but the world number two hopes the damage isn't severe enough to impede his chances of continuing in the tournament.
"Yes it was a sharp pain when I fell. It was an awkward fall. I was just hoping nothing was going on bad with the joint," he said.
"There was no damage in the joint, so I could play a few games after that. The muscle was still quite sore because of the impact, so all in all I'm just glad to get through.
"In the important moments I played well and came up with the right selection of shots, even though I dropped a couple of service games.
"Now there are two days off so I'm going to recover and get ready."
Djokovic has won 10 of his 11 meetings with the big-serving Tsonga, including in the 2011 Wimbledon semi-finals and the quarter-finals at the 2012 Olympic Games, which were staged at the All England Club.
But the Serb knows the flamboyant Tsonga, twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist, is a dangerous opponent on grass.
"It's obvious that as the tournament progresses you are going to encounter players with a higher ranking that can make an impact at this stage," Djokovic added.
"He is a great grasscourt player and has won against some good players at Wimbledon.
"He loves the energy of the stadium. I remember my matches against him in the 2011 semi-finals here and the Olympic Games."
Wimbledon results on Friday, the fifth day of the 2014 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeded player):
Men
Third round
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x14) bt Jimmy Wang (TPE) 6-2, 6-2, 7-5
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0
Marin Cilic (CRO x26) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 7-6 (8/6)
Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt Roberto Bautista (ESP x27) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
Kevin Anderson (RSA x20) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA x16) 4-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x11) bt Aleksandr Dolgopolov (UKR x21) 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3
Second round
Feliciano Lopez (ESP x19) bt Ante Pavic (CRO) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5
Jerzy Janowicz (POL x15) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 4-6, 6-3
Santiago Giraldo (COL) bt Marcel Granollers (ESP x30) 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5
Women
Third round
Tereza Smitkov (CZE) bt Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 10-8
Lucie Safarova (CZE x23) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x10) 6-4, 6-2
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x22) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA) 7-5, 6-3
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x4) bt Michelle Larcher de Brito (POR) 6-2, 6-0
Petra Kvitova (CZE) bt Venus Williams (USA) 5-7, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5
Peng Shuai (CHN) bt Lauren Davis (USA) 0-6, 6-3, 6-3
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x16) bt Ana Konjuh (CRO) 6-3, 6-0
Barbora Zhalavova Strycova (CZE) bt Li Na (CHN x2) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5)
Second round
Simona Halep (ROM x3) bt Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Belinda Bencic (SUI) bt Victoria Duval (USA) 6-4, 7-5