Resurgent Djokovic sets up Rublev quarter-final
Novak Djokovic won against Alex De Minaur 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 on Monday and will play Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, in the next round
Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Australian Open (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)
Serb Novak Djokovic, the No 4 seed, advanced to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open by winning against Australian Alex de Minaur, the No 22 seed, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 at Melbourne Park on Monday.
Djokovic, ranked No 5, will face Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, next.
De Minaur said afterwards that he could see no evidence of Djokovic’s injury on court.
“I think everyone’s kind of seeing what’s been happening over the couple weeks,” he said in his press conference afterwards. “It’s the only thing everyone’s been talking about.
“Today I was out there on court against him. Either I’m not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or… it looked good to me. He was just too good in all aspects.”
He added: “Ultimately these are the matches I want to play. Maybe I’m being very hard on myself right now, but it did seem like I played a pretty faultless Novak today. I could be wrong. I could then look at the match and see what I could have done better to expose him in any way, shape or form.
“The feeling I’ve got just walking off the court is that I played a pretty high-level Novak, which I feel like if he has that level, he will win another title here. That’s my thoughts.”
The 35-year-old Serb defeated Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena (6-3, 6-4, 6-0), French qualifier Enzo Couacaud (6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 27 seed (7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.
In the previous rounds, De Minaur, ranked No 24, won against qualifier Yu Hsiou Hsu (6-2, 6-2, 6-3), Frenchman Adrian Mannarino (7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1) and Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi (7-6, 6-2, 6-1).
Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):
- Tommy Paul beat Roberto Bautista Agut (24): 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
- Andrey Rublev beat Holger Rune (9): 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (9)
- Ben Shelton beat J.J. Wolf: 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-2
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Jannik Sinner (15): 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3
- Jiri Lehecka beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (6): 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3)
- Karen Khachanov (18) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (31): 6-0, 6-0, 7-6 (4)
- Sebastian Korda (29) beat Hubert Hurkacz (10): 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7)
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