World No.1 Novak Djokovic may not be the most successful player in the history of the French Open, but he has become the first to reach a 10th consecutive quarter-final at the clay-court major.
The top seed experienced little difficulty during what was a routine 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, win over Germany’s Jan Lennard-Struff. Somebody whom he last played at the 2017 Doha Open. Despite the fall in the temperature and drizzle that fell on him, Djokovic strolled to the 96-minute win with the help of 31 winners to only 12 unforced errors. Sealing a place in the last eight of a major for the 44th time in his career, which is the second highest of all-time. Rival Roger Federer has made 54 appearances.
“Obviously these kind of conditions favour my game against his,” Djokovic said during an interview with Eurosport afterwards.
“It’s very heavy, very muddy, it slows down. His big weapon is his serve and I managed to get a lot of serves back. It’s completely different playing him in these conditions to when it’s 35 degrees and sunny.
“Rain like this is characteristic for Paris at this time of year.”
At first it seemed as if Djokovic could be tested by the world No.45, who was playing in the fourth round of a major for the first time at the age of 29. Seven games went by before Djokovic launched his first attack. Reading his opponent’s serve like a book, the top seed broke Struff three consecutive times. In exactly 60 minutes Djokovic sealed a two-set lead by dropping only nine points behind his own serve.
Strolling towards the finish line, the 15-time grand slam champion broke immediately at the start of the third frame. Hitting a forehand shot that painted one of the lines. Much at the bemusement of Struff. Admirably the German managed to prevent the bagel set, but it had little impact on the outcome of the match. A carefully placed drop shot from Djokovic on match point drew another error from Struff. Securing him victory.
Djokovic will play either Fabio Fognini or Alexander Zverev in the next round. He has never lost to Fognini so far in his career, but he has come up short against Zverev in two of their four previous meetings.
