Nole is through to the Western & Southern Open quarter-finals.
World no.2 advanced to the last eight after his Russian opponent, no.50-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, retired from their third round match with a shoulder injury.
Davydenko was struggling from the beginning. He made eight double faults and decided to retire after losing the first set 6-0.
Match statistics: aces (2-0), double faults (0-8), winners (5-2), unforced errors (9-15),
total points won (30-16).
“His first serves didn’t go over 90 miles per hour, so something obviously was wrong with his shoulder. It’s unfortunate. It was a night session match and many people came to watch. Obviously I was also expecting a good and interesting and tough match. It’s the way it is. Hopefully he recovers for the US Open,” Djokovic said.
The three-time Cincinnati Masters runner-up capitalised on three of his six break point opportunities.
Novak will meet no.12 seed Croat Marin Cilic for a place in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event semi-finals.
Their match is scheduled on Friday at 1:00 pm local time (7:00 pm CET).
Cilic defeated Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-6(4), 6-2. Nole has won all of their six previous encounters, the most recent in the 3rd round of the 2011 Rogers Cup 7-5, 6-2.
Photo: Getty Images
