Sports Updates : With a dominant performance on Sunday, Novak Djokovic defeated Adrian Mannarino of France 6-0 6-0 6-3 to advance to the Australian Open semifinals.
The Serb has now advanced to the final eight of a grand slam 58 times, matching Roger Federer’s record.
Djokovic, who is vying for a record-tying 25th grand slam victory, dropped a set in the first two rounds of this tournament due to difficult opposition, but as the second week draws near, he appears to have regained his flow.
The Serbian added afterward, “The first two sets [were] some of the best sets I’ve played in a while,” according to the ATP Tour.
Mannarino, who could only laugh at the end of the second set, finally won a game in the third set. Djokovic appeared to be headed for a rare triple bagel as he breezed through the first two sets without dropping a game. This would have been the first of its kind at the Australian Open and first at any grand slam since 1993.
“The tension in the stadium was building up so much that I really wanted to lose that game in the third set,” Djokovic stated. “I simply had to finish that one off so I could concentrate on what I needed to do to finish the match.”
After the American upset last year’s champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(3) 5-7 6-3 6-3 in their fourth round encounter, he will now play Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals.
Fritz, the No. 12 seed in the competition, had never before overcome a player ranked in the top 10 at a grand slam, but he struck 13 aces and committed just 19 unintentional errors to advance to his first-ever quarterfinal at the Australian Open.
According to the event website, Fritz stated later, “I really, really turned it on in the last three games of the match, almost like [I] was in a trance and everything.”
“It just felt right. I had the impression that I knew exactly what shot to take and what play to make on every ball. It’s excellent. I’ve not felt like that in a long, so that gives me a lot of confidence.
With an outstanding 6-1, 6-2 victory against Magdalena Frech of Poland, his compatriot Coco Gauff advanced to her first-ever Australian Open quarterfinal and won her 11th straight grand slam match, including the US Open.
Throughout the entire match, she dominated, hitting 21 wins to Frech’s seven, and she never faced a break point.
Gauff, who is 19 years old, claims that she forgets that she is still a youngster because of her more self-assured performances.
She later told reporters, “I just feel like I’ve lived so many lives the last four years, that I just feel older than 19.” Yes, I do seem to forget my age quite a bit.
She has advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals, where she will take on Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, becoming the youngest woman to do so since Agnieszka Radwanska in 2008.
[…] News Updates : With a dominant performance on Sunday, Novak Djokovic defeated Adrian Mannarino of France 6-0 6-0 6-3 to advance to the Australian Open […]