Novak Djokovic moved past Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 in 89 minutes to reach the quarter final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome for the 17th time in his career. Djokovic dropped his serve once and broke serve three times.
Djokovic is chasing his seventh title in Rome after his previous wins in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2020 and 2022.
Djokovic earned an early break in the second game of the opening set after a forehand error from Norrie. The Serbian player held at 15 in the third game to race out to a 3-0 lead in 11 minutes. Djokovic held at 30 in the seventh game to open up a 5-2 lead. Norrie saved two set points for 3-5.
Djokovic served out to close out the first set 6-3 on his fourth set point after 40 minutes following a medical time-out for Norrie.
Both players traded holds in the first two games of the second set. Djokovic earned two break points with a running pass in the third game and converted his first chance after a backhand error from Norrie to take a 2-1 lead. The British player broke straight back to draw level to 2-2 and held serve for 3-2.
Djokovic broke serve at love in the ninth game after a loose backhand from Norrie to take a 5-4 lead. Norrie received a medical time-out due to an issue on his hip.
Djokovic came back from 0-30 down and missed his first match point, as he was serving for the match.
Djokovic converted his second chance with a service winner to set up a quarter final match against Holger Rune, who hit 34 winners and committed just three unforced errors in the third set to beat Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4 5-7 6-4 after 3 hours. Rune beat Jannik Sinner to reach the final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters before winning the fourth title of his career in Munich.
“So far so good. It was an early start today. Strange conditions today and we warmed up for just 20 minutes. I was rushing a little bit and we could not play before because of the rain, so I am glad to overcome the challenge in straight sets and move on”, said Djokovic.
Rune earned the first break and served well throughout the first set. The Danish player did not convert three break points but he held his serve to win the first set 6-4.
Both players earned a lot of break points in the second set. Rune was not able to convert any of his four chances. Popyrin converted his break point in the 12th game to win the second set 7-5 forcing the match to the decider.
Rune earned six break points in the third set and converted only one chance in the fifth game to seal the third set 6-4.
Lorenzo Musetti came back from one set down to beat Frances Tiafoe 5-7 6-4 6-3 after 2 hour and 35 minutes. The match resumed today after it was interrupted by rain yesterday, as Musetti was leading 2-1 in the third set.
Musetti was not able to convert three consecutive break points at 4-2. The Italian player earned a second break in the ninth game to close out the third set 6-3.
Musetti set up a fourth round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in another match that was interrupted by rain yesterday. Sonego earned two set points at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set. Tsitsipas saved them with two service winners. Tsitsipas earned an early mini-break to take a 1-0 lead. Sonego pulled back on serve to draw level to 2-2. Tsitsipas sealed the tie-break 7-3 on his first match points after Sonego made a double fault at 3-5 down.