IMAGE: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in motion throughout his spherical of 16 match towards Britain’s Cameron Norrie on the Italian Open in Foro Italico in Rome on Tuesday.Photograph: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters
Holder Novak Djokovic blasted previous Briton Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 in a tense encounter to reach the Italian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday and stay on monitor for a seventh title in Rome.
Djokovic made gradual begins to his opening two matches however the fired-up world primary bolted out of the blocks for a 3-0 lead and let slip two alternatives to break Rio champion Norrie a second time earlier than taking the primary set on serve.
The duo swapped breaks early in a spicy second set the place Norrie’s overhead shot hit Djokovic on the leg after the Serbian had turned his again on the web. The 22-times Grand Slam champion continued to stare down Norrie on the finish of the fifth sport.
An error-prone Norrie surrendered his serve once more and had therapy for a proper leg situation, earlier than high seed Djokovic got here from 0-30 down within the ultimate sport of the competition to full the victory over the world quantity 13 on his second match level.
“So far so good,” Djokovic, who will meet seventh seed Holger Rune or Alexei Popyrin within the final eight, mentioned of his progress in Rome.
“It was an early begin at present. Strange circumstances. I really completed my warm-up 10 minutes earlier than I went on the court docket so I used to be speeding a bit with all the things however we could not play earlier due to the rain.
“I’m simply glad to overcome at present’s problem in straight units and transfer on.”
Djokovic skipped the Madrid occasion due to an elbow damage and hung out getting therapy for an unspecified situation earlier than Tuesday’s match however the 35-year-old mentioned there was no trigger for contemporary concern.
“Every day there’s one thing,” mentioned Djokovic.
“Thankfully I used to be in a position to play and end the match and hopefully tomorrow I’ll really feel even higher.”
Iga Swiatek continued her title defence with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Donna Vekic to arrange an intriguing quarter-final assembly with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Men’s fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas downed Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 7-6 (3) in a match postponed due to rain on Monday and performs one other Italian in Lorenzo Musetti for a quarter-final spot.
Daniil Medvedev meets Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner faces Francisco Cerundolo. Andrey Rublev takes on Yannick Hanfmann.
