(Tennis news) Alexandre Muller, Bernabe Zapata Miralles, and Laslo Djere were defeated by Djokovic as he started his quest for a 24th Major title. For a place in the last eight, he had to beat qualifier Borna Gojo.
Gojo’s serve was broken twice by Djokovic to win the opening set, which he easily won. The Serb came back from a break down in the second set to win it, which was more contested.
In order to take a 4-3 lead in the third set, Djokovic made the crucial break in the seventh game. Even though he initially blew a match point on Gojo’s serve at 5-3, he eventually finished the match in the next game to win 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.
To earn a matchup with qualifier Dominic Stricker in the fourth round, Fritz defeated Steve Johnson, Juan Pablo Varillas, and Jacub Mensik. The American narrowly defeated his rival in the tie-break to win the opening set, which was a close contest.
A single serve break in each of the final two sets gave Fritz a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory. The next two sets weren’t too challenging for Fritz. In this tournament, he has advanced to the final eight for the first time in his career and just the second time at a Major.
Head-to-Head
In the head-to-head matchup, Djokovic is 7-0 up on Fritz. During the 2023 Western & Southern Open, Djokovic defeated Fritz in straight sets.
Predictions
In the prior round, both players performed admirably, with just one serve drop. The fact that Djokovic has defeated Fritz every time they have faced off makes him the clear favourite to win this match.
The Serb has won every match they’ve had in straight sets except for their match at the 2021 Australian Open. As the former World No. 1 was dealing with an injury, even their matchup in Melbourne required five sets.
Djokovic won easily, 6-0, 6-4, when the two recently squared off in Cincinnati. When it comes to serving, he can easily compete with Fritz, and he can also block Fritz’s devastating forehand.
Djokovic has a history of finding a way to win despite being put in a difficult position. When he faced Djere in the third round, he was trailing two sets to love, but a loss still seemed unlikely. It took him five sets to ultimately prevail.
So far, Fritz hasn’t lost a set and has been playing well. However, he has yet to solve the Djokovic conundrum, and it seems improbable that he will succeed in doing so on the tennis world’s greatest stage, where the stakes are highest.
Novak Djokovic to win in 4 sets.
