Novak Djokovic suffered a lot to earn his passage to the quarterfinals of the Adelaide tournament. The Serb had to come back from 5-2 down in the first set to beat Frenchman Quentin Halys 7-6(3) 7-6(5) and stay alive in the first tournament of the season.
Halys, number 64 in the world, has yet to lose to a Top-10 rival, but gave Djokovic a big scare before the former world number one prevailed in two tie-breaks.
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Djokovic, who has won 31 consecutive victories in Australia and was unable to defend his title last year after being kicked out a day before the tournament for not having been vaccinated against COVID-19, is preparing for the Australian Open, which will be held from 16 to 16. January 29 and where he seeks to win his tenth title, a record.
“It was a great performance from my rival today. I want to congratulate him on his great quality and his great fight. He had bad luck, but today he played like a top 10, without a doubt”, declared Djokovic, who is now fifth in the world.
“Regarding my game, I feel good on the court. I didn’t start well, I lost serve early. He serves very well, fast, with good services, hits his points in the box very well” he highlighted.
The 35-year-old Serbian will face Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinalswho defeated Russian Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-3 in the first game of the day.
The fate was worse for Roberto Bautista, who bid farewell to the tournament after losing to American Sebastian Korda in doubles 6-4. The man from Castellón was not able this time, as he did in the first round against Rublev, to overcome a bad start of the game and was surprised by the great game of the young American player, who will face off for a place in the semifinals against the winner of the final match of the day who will face Jannik Sinner with Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Source: La Verdad
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