Serbian World No.1 Novak Djokovic has returned back to form after securing victory in the quarter-finals of the Serbian Open with a thrilling three set match against Miomir Kecmanovic on Thursday.
The Serbian Grand Slam champion Djokovic has gone on and played two consecutive three set thrillers in the Serbia Open and managed to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory against Miomir to go through to the next round.
Djokovic has a pretty decent record while playing against fellow Serbians which was extended to 27-4 in his favour while he has a 36-6 record while playing on home soil as well.
“The scenario was similar to last evening’s match, but I managed to win and qualify for the semis,” Djokovic said in Serbian in his post-match interview. “Thanks to my team, I felt better than last night.” Djokovic said as quoted by the ATP website.
Djokovic took some time to get to know Kecmanovic’s aggressive stye and later produced some elite level skills on court to outplay his opponent in the latter part of the game.
He won his final four games of the match winning set with just two points going against him and finished the two hour, 18-minute contest in a dominating fashion with consecutive backhand winners in the last game.
Djokovic was earlier satisfied with his energy levels in the opening game of the tournament which was a nearly three-and-a-half-hour encounter with Laslo Djere. After such a tiring game the other day, he was made to compete in the next round with less than 24 hours to recover. However, the 34-year-old managed to improve on his earlier performance and delivered the goods in both the games as was expected of him.
Novak Djokovic now has a 2-0 head to head record against Kecmanovic who lost to the fellow Serbian at the same stage in similar fashion last year as well in Belgrade.
Kecmanovic is proving to be a player who is improving year by year with regard to his results and performances. The 22-year-old was playing his fifth quarter-final at the ATP Tour this week and has reached a career best ranking of 38 in the ATP rankings.
The World no. 1 Djokovic will be looking to bag his third Serbia Open title and his fourth ATP title overall in his home town and would give his best in order to make it to the final. He will be waiting on his next opponent which will be decided in the match between Karen Khachanov and Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
(Inputs from IANS)