Safiullin appeared full of belief as he began his bid for a monumental upset, responding to Djokovic’s immediate break of serve by winning five of the next six games.
But he could not convert that positive position, faltering as he served for the set at 5-3 and eventually coming up short in the tie-break.
Despite the 125-place ranking gap, Safiullin had continued to prove a nuisance in the second set until he presented Djokovic with an opening in the sixth game, and eventually conceded a fourth break point.
Having to come through three consecutive five-set matches since the final round of qualifying to arrive here began to take its toll as Safiullin required a medical timeout for a left-leg problem during the third set.
But he successfully managed that issue to capture his first set in four tour-level meetings with Djokovic, who landed only 57% of his first serves and took out his frustration on a ball after Safiullin took a sixth break point for a 4-2 lead.
Despite that incident, which was booed by the crowd, Djokovic quickly reset and launched a decisive fourth-set response, breaking to love in the second game as Safiullin’s challenge began to fade.
Lifting over a closing drop shot to serve out victory to love, Djokovic embraced Safiullin at the net – and there was deserved warm applause for the spirited qualifier’s performance as his superb run, in which he also ousted 12th seed Andrey Rublev, came to an end.
Djokovic has now been taken to four sets in three of his four wins at this year’s championships, but remains in the hunt for history after reaching his 17th Wimbledon quarter-final.
