Top seed and 2011 Wimbledon titlist Novak Djokovic booked a place in The Championships quarter-finals on Monday, when he beat his friend and fellow countryman Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
Novak improved to 12-1 lifetime against Troicki in their fourth round encounter on Centre Court that lasted 90 minutes.
It was his 40th match win of the season (40-6), which includes two titles – at the Australian Open in Melbourne (d. Nadal) and the Sony Open Tennis in Miami (d. Murray).
Novak’s first break of serve came in the fourth game of the match. Although he immediately surrendered his own serve, he was straight back on top, taking Troicki’s serve in the sixth game for 4-2 lead. The defending champion won the opening set 6-3 in 28 minutes.
Djokovic raced through the second set in just 24 minutes. He made a triple break for convincing 6-1.
A break in the sixth game of the third set was enough for Nole to seal the set and match
6-3.
Match statistics: aces (4-2), double faults (2-2), winners (31-15), unforced errors (11-15), total points won (89-54).
“At the start, I needed some time to get the rhythm and to kind of figure out where he’s going to serve because he has a big first serve,” Novak said. “But I returned really well. I served great. The baseline game, I was patient and waiting for a chance to be aggressive. Everything was quite compact, and I’m satisfied.”
Nole and Viktor will be teaming up together to compete for Serbia in the doubles event at the London Olympics later this month.
The 25-year-old Serb will play against no.31 seed Florian Mayer on Wednesday for a place in the last 4. The German defeated 18th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Djokovic and Mayer met in quarter-finals of Dubai 2011, Novak won 7-5, 6-1.
Photo: AP
