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.
The top-seed men’s singles player Novak Djokovic stormed into the third round of the ongoing US Open on Wednesday, while his women’s counterpart Karolina Pliskova suffered a shocking exit to Caroline Garcia.
After losing the opening set, world number one Djokovic rallied past Kyle Edmund 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. He will next face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Stuff who won 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 against USA’s Michael Mmoh.
Djokovic, who is chasing his fourth US Open and 18th Grand Slam title, lost the intense first set which was played for more than an hour. It was his first tiebreak defeat after winning 11 such encounters straight.
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The 33-year-old, however, regained his usual brilliance from there on as he overpowered Edmund on all fronts. Djokovic hit 16 aces and lost only 12 points on his first serve.
“I’m actually glad I did drop a set and got tested the way I did today against Kyle. I expected it to be a tough, tough task,” said Djokovic after the match as quoted by IANS. “I’m really glad having an early kind of tough match in the tournament,” Djokovic said, “because it kind of serves me better, I think, for the rest of the tournament.”
Meanwhile, world number three women’s singles player Pliskova fell short to France’s Garcia 6-1 7-6 (7-2) in a match that lasted one hour and 33 minutes. Garcia, ranked 50, produced 30 winners and just 17 unforced errors with Pliskova cutting a frustrated figure throughout the match and in the media interactions afterwards on Wednesday.
Stefanos Tsitsipas meanwhile beat Maxime Cressy 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 to mark his debut at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He thus progresses to the third round of the US Open for the first time in his career where he will face Borna Coric. He remains on course to face Alexander Zverev, who beat 19-year-old Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-1. 12th seed Dennis Shapovalov beat South Korean Kwon Soon-woo 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Meanwhile, 2018 US Open women’s singles champion and fourth seed Naomi Osaka made light work of Italy’s Camila Giorgi, winning her second round fixture 6-1 6-2.
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