World no.1 Novak Djokovic continued his run at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships as he advanced easily to the quarter-finals.
Novak defeated Japanese wild card Go Soeda 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour and 34 minutes on Wednesday.
It was another strong performance in Tokyo. The top seed broke the 35-year-old home favourite four times from 12 opportunities.
“He made me work for my win today and the atmosphere was really good on the court,” Djokovic said. “I enjoyed it. I think I played a pretty good tennis match. From the baseline, I was solid, aggressive when I needed to be and taking the ball early. I served very well until that game when I was serving for the match at 5-3. I made some double faults, I missed all my first serves, and allowed him to break back and come back into the match. But there were not too many negatives today, because I had chances constantly. I had match points at 5-4, but he just came up with some very good shots and fought hard and that’s why we give him credit. But from my side, I’m really pleased.”
Match statistics: aces (10-3), double faults (2-1), winners (25-22), unforced errors (18-24), total points won (77-56).
In the next round on Friday, Novak will play against no.5 seed Lucas Pouille (FRA).
