ATP Masters Rome: quarter-finals - Novak Djokovic defeats brave Filip Krajinovic
Novak Djokovic is in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. Last year's finalist defeated his Serbian compatriot Filip Krajinovic 7: 6 (7) and 6: 4.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Sep 18, 2020, 05:34 pm
Krajinovic started strong and made a break. Djokovic countered immediately - and fended off all further attempts by his opponent in the first round. As befits a man of the absolute top, Novak Djokovic struck in the decisive phase. At 5: 4 Krajinovic was able to defuse two set balls. In the tie-break, the outsider even led 4-1, but Djokovic scored the following four points and won the short decision 9-7.
In the second round, an early break was enough for the world number one to gain control of the match. After 2:07 hours of play, Djokovic sealed his entry into the quarter-finals with the first match point to 7: 6 (7) and 6: 3.
Also Dimitrov, Ruud and Shapovalov in the quarterfinals
The last meeting between the two Serbs was on the Adriatic Tour in Belgrade. At that time Krajinovic had prevailed, but in the context of this exhibition match only short sets of up to four were played. Djokovic is now waiting in Rome for the winner of the game between Lorenzo Musetti and Dominik Koepfer.
In the early round of 16 on Friday Matteo Berrettini had prevailed against Stefano Travaglia with 7: 6 (5) and 7: 6 (1). The local favorite meets Casper Ruud in the round of the last eight, who threw Marin Cilic out of the tournament. Grigor Dimitrov had to stretch a lot against Jannik Sinner, but won 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4. Dimitrov now plays against DenisShapovalov, who won against Ugo Humbert in three sets.