25. 01. 2009. ยท Reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is through to the quarterfinals with a win over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in four sets, 6:1 7:6(1) 6:7(5) 6:2, in 3 hours and 15 minutes.
Djokovic needed only 25 minutes to take the first set 6:1.
Baghdatis played much better in the second set. After saving three break points in the opening game, he broke Novak’s service in the next, and then held to increase his lead to 3:0. Djokovic used his fourth break point in the seventh game to come back into the set. Both players held their services and the set went to a tie-breaker. Nole won it 7-1, making four mini breaks, while Marcos made only one.
Both Djokovic and Baghdatis had chances for break in the third set, but it was decided in tie-break. This time Marcos was better. He hit some fantastic shots, made less errors and won it 7-5.
The 21-year-old broke in the first game of the fourth set sending down a great forehand winner. He went two points down on his serve, but fought back, taking the hold with four consecutive points. After failing to convert break point in the third game, Djokovic faced scare in the sixth, but held for 4:2. He used his third chance for break in the seventh game to go up 5:2. Novak fought back again from two points down when serving for the match and closed it 6:2.
Djokovic served 3 aces to Baghdatis’s 12, but the Cypriot had 53 unforced errors to Novak’s 49. Nole had 36 winners to Marcos’s 37. He capitalised on 5 of 17 break points, while Baghdatis could only convert 1 of his 5 opportunities.
”You have this unique excitement when you play the night matches. It’s really fun. You make history by going into the 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning,” Novak said.
”But on the other hand I don’t think that this really benefits a lot of people that we played that late. Hopefully in the future we can make some compromise.”
Novak will play against no.7 seed Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. The American beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo in straight sets, 7:5 6:1 6:3.
World number three and world number nine have met three times, Novak leads 2-1.
