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.
World no 1 Novak Djokovic outplayed Stefanos Tsitsipas, whereas world no 2 Rafael Nadal defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in their respective quarterfinal matches in the 2019 Paris Masters.
On Friday, Djokovic dropped just three games to race past the Greek superstar Tsitsipas in 58 minutes with the scoreline of 6-1, 6-2, recording his 35th victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
“I played one of the best matches of the season. I prepared myself very well for this match,” Djokovic was quoted on the ATP Tour’s website. “I lost to Stefanos about three weeks ago in Shanghai and obviously I went through the videos (to better) understand what I did well, what I didn’t do so well, what I can do better.”
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Djokovic will meet Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the final. Djokovic leads the Bulgarian 8-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, dropping only two sets in their past five hard-court meetings.
Meanwhile, Nadal defeated Tsonga 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 to set up a semifinal clash against Canadian rising star Denis Shapovalov, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Gael Monfils.
Nadal, who did not face a break point in the match, won 93 per cent of his first-serve points and broke twice in the second set to triumph after one hour and 36 minutes.
Nadal is pursuing a record-extending 36th ATP Masters 1000 title this week in his first tournament as a newlywed. The 33-year-old has now won 14 consecutive matches, and he is into the last four at this event for the fourth time in his seventh appearance. Nadal is 11-0 in quarterfinals this season, and 51-6 overall.
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