Novak faces Tsonga in London QFs

Bronze medalist from Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Novak Djokovic, fought his way through to the quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympic tennis event on Wednesday after beating Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt on a packed Wimbledon Centre Court.

Nole came back from a set down to record a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over former world no.1 in
1 hour and 56 minutes.

He capitalised on four of his seven break point chances and won 21 of 30 points on the net.

Hewitt got off to a strong start in the opening set. He made a break in the ninth game and sealed it 6-4 in 40 minutes.

Novak took control in the second set and was always ahead of his opponent, keeping him consistently on the run. He was serving at 5-3, but Hewitt broke back. The Australian was unable to hold his serve in the crucial 12th game, and Nole took the set 7-5.

Djokovic won five straight games from 1-1 in the deciding set for his sixth straight win over Hewitt in seven career meetings.

“I was trying to focus on my game and trying to see what I could do to get into his serve,” said Novak. “He was serving really well, with a lot of efficiency. I just needed to step in a bit. That’s what I did and I changed the momentum in the middle of the second set when I made a break. He broke back, but I felt I got back into the match.”

Match statistics: aces (16-5), double faults (3-1), winners (37-24), unforced errors (14-10), total points won (87-76).

The 25-year-old Serbian star will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the semi-finals.

Fifth-seeded Frenchman defeated no.29 in the ATP rankings Feliciano Lopez of Spain
7-6(5), 6-4.

Djokovic and Tsonga have met 11 times, Nole leads 6-5.

Photo: Reuters

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