Djokovic thumps king of clay Nadal to enter third round
The two greats of the racquet game, both in the evening of their fabulous journey in tennis, have fought many a pitched battle between themselves in their glittering careers.
Top seed Novak Djokovic defeated Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 here on Monday to enter quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships for the 12th time, the third most after Roger Federer (17 times) and former American tennis star Jimmy Connors (14). He is level with Britains Arthur Gore who also had entered the quarters at SW19 on 12 occasions.
The Serb world No. 1, who is eyeing his 20th Grand Slam title to level with Federer and Rafael Nadal, who both have 20 Grand Slam titles, has been in immaculate form dropping only one set in the tournament.
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Djokovic fired nine aces against two from Garin and committed only one double fault as against five by the Chilean. He converted five of the 12 break-points and won 92 per cent first service points.
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In other games, seventh-seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy beat Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 47 minutes to enter quarter-finals while 25th seed Karen Khachanov reached his first Wimbledon last-eight stage after beating Sebastian Korda 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in a tough five-setter. Canadian 10th seed Denis Shapovalov defeated eighth-seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 to also make it to the quarters.
“I feel like I am not using a lot of energy, because I won most of my matches in three sets,” said Berrettini after the win over Ivashka.
“It is really good for me if I look at the long run. I feel [that] I am playing the best tennis of my career. [Two years ago] I was playing [well], but everything was kind of new. I had to adjust a little bit,” he added.
“Now I have more confidence for sure, more experience as well. I know I can achieve my best results like [I reached the] quarters in Paris [at Roland Garros and] quarters here. Obviously, the tournament is not done yet. I am really looking forward to achieving even more,” he said further.
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