World no.1 Novak Djokovic continued his quest for back-to-back titles at the BNP Paribas Masters with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) third round victory over home favourite Gael Monfils on Thursday.
The pair met for the 11th time with the Serb now boasting a perfect 11-0 H2H series lead.
Novak recorded his second indoor win of the season in one hour and 32 minutes.
The top seed and defending champion made an early break and consolidated it for 3-0 lead. He fended off two break points before serving out the opening set 6-3 in 36 minutes.
Nole broke Monfils in the third game of the second set, but the Frenchman fought back immediately to level. They went to a tie-breaker that Djokovic dominated. He won it 7-2, reaching his fourth quarter-final in Paris.
Match statistics: aces (1-12), double faults (5-4), winners (18-28), unforced errors (16-28), total points won (71-59).
Novak will take on eight-seeded Andy Murray on Friday for a place in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event semis. The Brit defeated Grigor Dimitrov (BUL, 9) 6-3, 6-3.
Djokovic has a 14-8 H2H career record against Andy. The Belgrade native has won all three of their meetings this year, the most recent in Beijing semi-final earlier this month.
“We have very similar game styles so whoever is calmer and fitter will win”, Novak said on the battle vs Murray.
Photo: AP
