Holder Novak Djokovic powered previous Briton Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 in a tense match to achieve the Italian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday and stay on observe for a seventh title in Rome.
Djokovic made gradual begins to his opening two matches however the fired-up world primary rapidly opened up a 3-0 lead and let slip two alternatives to interrupt Rio champion Norrie a second time earlier than taking the primary set on serve.
The duo swapped breaks early in a spicy second set by which Norrie’s overhead shot hit Djokovic on the leg after the Serbian had turned his again on the web. The 22-times Grand Slam champion continued to stare down Norrie on the finish of the fifth recreation.
An error-prone Norrie surrendered his serve once more and had therapy for a proper leg difficulty, earlier than prime seed Djokovic got here from 0-30 down within the ultimate recreation of the competition to finish the victory over the world quantity 13 on his second match level.
“So far so good,” Djokovic, who will meet seventh seed Holger Rune within the final eight, mentioned.
“It was an early begin in the present day. Strange circumstances. I really completed my warm-up 10 minutes earlier than I went on the court docket so I used to be dashing a bit with all the pieces however we could not play earlier due to the rain.
“I’m just glad to overcome today’s challenge in straight sets and move on.”
Djokovic skipped the Madrid occasion because of an elbow harm and hung out getting therapy for an unspecified difficulty however the 35-year-old mentioned there was no trigger for recent concern.
“Every day there’s something,” mentioned Djokovic. “Thankfully, I was able to play and finish the match and hopefully tomorrow I will feel even better.”
Rune battled previous Alexei Popyrin 6-4 5-7 6-4 to arrange a rematch of final 12 months’s Paris Masters ultimate, the place the 20-year-old Dane beat Djokovic in three units.
Iga Swiatek continued her title defence with a 6-3 6-4 win over Donna Vekic to arrange an intriguing quarter-final assembly with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Men’s fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas downed Lorenzo Sonego 6-3 7-6(3) in a match postponed because of rain on Monday and performs one other Italian in Lorenzo Musetti for a quarter-final spot.
Daniil Medvedev meets Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner faces Francisco Cerundolo. Andrey Rublev takes on Yannick Hanfmann.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
