Novak Djokovic beat Alejandro Tabilo 7-6 6-1 in 1 hour and 39 minutes to reach the quarter finals in Athens. Djokovic beat his Chilean opponent for the first time after losing his previous head-to-head matches on clay in the past two seasons in Rome in 2024 and Monte-Carlo this year.
Djokovic saved the only break point he faced. The former world number 1 won 42% of his return points and converted two of his five break points.
Tabilo faced two break points in the first game of the opening set. He saved them to hold serve. Both players went on serve in the next games en route to the tie-break.
Djokovic won all five points on serve and earned an early mini-break when Tabilo missed a forehand in the first point. Djokovic won an extended rally to earn his second mini-break at 6-3 and drew Tabilo’s error on the first set point to close out the tie-break 7-2 in 67 minutes.
Djokovic saved a break point in the first game of the second set. The multiple Grand Slam champion earned a break in the fourth game after Tabilo’s forehand error.
Dhokovic held serve at love to open up a 4-1 lead and earned a double break in the sixth game for 5-1.
Djokovic held at 15 at 5-1 with a forced error to seal the win booking his spot in the quarter final.
“It feels really at home, playing in Athens. A few months ago when I came here with my family, I was very excited because I have always loved Greece. Serbians love Greece, for sure. Historically, culturally, and religiously, we have a lot of things connecting us. Athens is in my heart, no question about it. Playing against Tabilo, who I had never won against. We played two times on clay court, this year and last year and he won both of these matches. I was more under tension before the match than some other matches and I really tried to draw the energy from the crowd,” Djokovic said.
