25. 01. 2010. ·
Australian Open 2008 champion Novak Djokovic has overpowered Poland’s Lucasz Kubot in straight sets 6-1 6-2 7-5 in 1 hour and 55 minutes to progress to the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
Djokovic opened their second career clash with a confident, easy hold . He grabbed his first break of the match in the fourth game. The Serb eased through a comfortable service game to consolidate the break, broke his opponent’s service once again and took the set 6-1.
Novak was racing through his service games to keep the pressure on Kubot. The 22-year-old broke his opponent’s service twice and wrapped up the second set 6-2.
Nole made a break in the fifth game of the third set, but Kubot broke straight back to level the result. The Pole handed Djokovic a break with a double fault in the eleventh game, and no.3 seed closed the set and match 7-5.
Djokovic served 11 aces to Kubot’s 4, and made 1 double fault to Kubot’s 4.
The Serb hit 37 winners, 19 more than Kubot, and had 17 unforced errors to his opponent’s 25.
Nole converted 6 of his 9 break points, while the Pole capitalised on 1 of his 2 break point chances.
“If you look at the draw, I probably had, you know, the best possible draw at the moment. But I didn’t want to underestimate my opponent absolutely, because I’ve played him the finals of Belgrade, Serbia Open last year. I knew that he’s a tough opponent to play against. So I just went to the court willing to play my best from the start”, said Djokovic after the match.
“I think the first two sets I was very dominant on the court, then he lifted up his level of the game a little bit. That’s why we had a longer third set. In general, I was very happy with the way I performed today. I think serve was much more consistent today. And I had better serve percentage of the first serves. I got more free points there, which gave me a lot of advantage”, added Novak.
Djokovic now meets No.10 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against whom he owns a 2-4 lifetime record with the first of his two wins coming at the Australian Open in the 2008 finals (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6). The Frenchman defeated no.26 seed Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in five sets 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(6), 9-7.
”I played Jo many, many times in the last two years. Probably the biggest match that we played was finals here two years ago. He’s improved so much, and he’s a top 10 player.”
