World number one, Novak Djokovic, did not allow his difficult game against Tomas Machac on Monday, to affect his march to the quarterfinals yesterday. Djokovic had to rely on a tiebreak to subdue Machac, but he was sublime in yesterday’s match against world number 39, Tallon Griekspoor from The Netherlands. He raced to a 4-1 lead under 20 minutes before eventually taking the first set in style 6-2.
The world’s leading star would go on to lead 5-0 in the second, after a difficult fourth game, before winning easily in straight sets.
Russia’s Andrey Rublev, the second seed and defending champion, had to dig deep and pull out some Houdini tricks before finally edging out Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 1-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3) to advance to the last eight at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre.
Staging an escape act to keep his title defence alive, he was staring at five match points in the decider when World No. 29, Davidovich Fokina led by a set and 6-1 in the tie-breaker. That was when the Spaniard suffered a meltdown, and the Russian roared after he put the match on level terms. Rublev held the whip hand in the third set tiebreak and ran out the winner, much to his relief.
World No. 33, Van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, saw off the challenge of Mikael Ymner of Sweden, ranked 59 in the world.Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the number seven seed, beat Australia’s qualifier, Christopher O’Connell 7-5, 6-4 to move into the last eight. Zverev will play Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, ranked number 67, who upset Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the number four seed.
Sonego reached the last eight by defeating Auger-Aliassime in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-4 on centre court, shocking pundits and spectators.
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