Novak Djokovic Beats Old Foe Wawrinka To Join Zverev And Tsitsipas In Rome Quarters - UBITENNIS

Novak Djokovic Beats Old Foe Wawrinka To Join Zverev And Tsitsipas In Rome Quarters

It was a good day at the office for the top seeds in the men’s draw.

By Adam Addicott
6 Min Read
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Top seed Novak Djokovic breezed into the last eight of the Italian Open for a 16th consecutive time after disposing of Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.

In what was the 26th Tour meeting between the two Grand Slam champions, Djokovic dominated proceedings to clinch a 6-2, 6-2, win over his 37-year-old opponent in just 66 minutes. During the clash, the world No.1 won 75% of his first service points and broke Wawrinka five times in total. Making it the 20th time he has defeated the Swiss veteran compared to just six losses.

It’s great to see a big champion like Stan back, winning two matches after a long time. We all know how important he has been for our sport in the last 10 years, winning three slams, being an established top-five, top-10 player for many years,” said Djokovic.

This week is the first time Wawrinka has managed to win back-to-back matches for 15 months after missing a year of the Tour due to two foot surgeries. Rome is only the third event he has played since beginning his comeback. As a result of his lengthy absence, he has dropped down the rankings to 361st in the world.

Djokovic admits Wawrinka still has work to do in order to reach his desired level but is hopeful that he will be able to do so in the future. Reiterating the same words which Wawrinka has said about his own form earlier in the tournament.

“Only he knows how difficult it was with all the surgeries and injuries he had to deal with. So of course you can see on the court that he’s slower than he was when he was playing at his best. I’m sure with his team he’s doing his best to get himself in the best shape, but it takes time. It’s also match play versus practice sessions, completely different,” Djokovic said of Wawrinka.
“I felt I played solid with a lot of discipline from the beginning, made him move. On the other hand, I wish that Stan comes back to the desired level, for sure. At the moment I think movement is different. You can see he’s slower.” He added.

Seeking his second Tour title of the season after Belgrade, Djokovic will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime next in what will be the first ever meeting between the two. Auger-Aliassime, who is seeded eighth in the draw, dropped just five games during his 6-3, 6-2, win over Marcos Giron.

Tsitsipas, Zverev overcome tougher tests

World No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas dropped the first set before winning 12 out of the next 15 games to defeat Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. The encounter was a match of two halves for the Greek who dropped serve twice during the opener. Then he conducted a massive momentum change by breaking Khachanov four times in a row.

“Tennis is the most difficult sport that exists. If you make a few mistakes, you can find yourself really on the back foot. One break in our sport, in men’s tennis, could mean a lot. You find yourself chasing all the time,” Tsitsipas reflected during his press conference.
Once I established a clear picture and focused on time, then it was a lot different in terms of being able to make the right decisions at the right time. He played good. He returned well. He seemed to be swinging through the shots freely which gave me more to work with.” He added.

Alexander Zverev was on the court for nearly two hours before defeating Australia’s Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-6(5). After taking the opener with relative ease thanks to a clinical start, he experienced some blips during the second frame after losing a break advantage twice. Nevertheless, he managed to hold his nerve in the tiebreaker to prevail in straight sets.

I felt good. Obviously it’s not easy coming from Madrid to here with high altitude and the ball’s flying. Here it’s quite slow,” said Zverev, who lost in the final of the Madrid Masters to Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.
“The first match you need sometimes to get used to it. I think today was quite a good level from me.”

Zverev’s win extends Minaur’s disappointing record when it comes to taking on top players. He is now 0-18 when it comes to playing a member of the top five.

Tsitsipas and Zverev could face each other in Rome this week, providing they both win their quarter-final encounters. Tsitsipas will next play home favourite Jannik Sinner and Zverev will take on unseeded Cristian Garin.

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