DJOKOVIC WINS

Novak Djokovic has defeated Ryan Harrison of America in the second round of the Australian Open 2013. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

It was a demolishing performance by the top seed Serbian who took just 1 hour and 31 minutes to knock the American youngster out of the tournament.

Djokovic has won the Australian Open three times before. He had won this tournament last year as well.

Djokovic was off to a flyer in the first set. He held his service in the first game and then, broke Harrison’s service in the second game to take a lead of 2-0. The next three games went with the serve and at the end of the fifth game; Djokovic was ahead by 4-1.

The Serbian superstar got another breakthrough in the sixth game and got ahead by 5-1. He was serving for the set in the 7^th game and he served it out easily. He made the score 40-0 with three belligerent serves and then, sealed the set with an ace.

Djokovic had a great start in the second set as well.  He broke Harrison’s service in the opening game and then, with a serve hold in the second game, he got ahead by 2-0.

The Serbian got another breakthrough in the fifth game and then, he held his serve in the 6^th and the 8^th game to win the second set by 6-2.

In the third set, Harrison again had a poor start. He dropped his serve in the first game and never recovered from that.

In the next seven games, both the players held their serve. But, in the ninth game, Harrison dropped his serve again and that was the end of the match.

In the next round, Djokovic will face Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic.

ANOTHER TITLE

Novak Djokovic has won the Mubadala Tennis Championship by defeating Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the final. Djokovic won the match by 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. The Serbian superstar has won this tournament for the second consecutive time.

Djokovic didn’t make a good start to the match and lost the first set in tie breaker. But, after that, he bounced back brilliantly and just outclassed Almagro in the next couple of sets.

Djokovic broke Almagro’s service in the very first game of the second set and took a lead of 1-0. But, he lost the advantage immediately as Almagro got a breakthrough in the very next game. However, Djokovic managed to get ahead again by breaking Almagro’s service in the third game. The next 5 games went with the serve and at the end of the eighth game; the scorecard was showing 5-3 in the favour of Djokovic. The Serbian superstar got yet another breakthrough in the ninth game and grabbed the second set by 6-3.

In the third set, both the players held their service in the first 9 games and Djokovic was ahead by 5-4 at the end of the ninth game. In the 10^th game, Almagro made three consecutive unforced errors and allowed Djokovic to break his serve and run away with the match.

In the post match interview, Djokovic said, “It’s a great start of the season for me. I haven’t had much preparation before coming here, so, I hadn’t expected myself to play fluently. But, fortunately, I managed to pull off two consecutive victories and won the tournament.”

On the other hand, Almagro looked gutted after losing the final. The Spaniard said, “I had a very good start, but, I wasn’t able to capitalize on that. All credit goes to Novak. The way he came back was absolutely brilliant.”

MURRAY UP NEXT

Novak Djokovic will take on the British superstar Andy Murray in his second Round Robin match of the ATP World Tour Finals. In his first Round Robin match, Djokovic easily defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. He defeated the no. 1 French player by 7-6(4), 6-3. It took him just 100 minutes to win that match. On the other hand, Murray had to toil hard to win his first Round Robin match against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.

This is going to be 17^th match between these two players. Out the last 16 matches, Djokovic has won 9, while, Andy Murray has won 7. The last match between these two players was played in Shanghai. That was a cracker of a match. At one point of time, Djokovic was on the verge of a defeat in that match, but, he saved a couple of match points to take the second set into the tie breaker and then, won that tie breaker to extend the match to the third set. However, he didn’t manage to get better of Murray in the third set and lost the match.

Djokovic is in great form at the moment. on the other hand, Murray has been a bit consistent of late. In the recently played Paribas Masters 2012, he was knocked out of the third round.

Talking to the reporters ahead of the match against Murray, Djokovic said, Playing against a player of the calibre of Andy Murray is going to be a huge challenge for sure. It will be an important encounter for both of us. We have played quite a few matches against each other in the past. So, we know each other’s game pretty well. It’s going to be a close match and hopefully, I would end up on the winning side.”

DJOKOVIC THROUGH IN CHINA

Novak Djokovic has defeated Carlos Berlocq of Argentina in a match of the China Open. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 6-3. With this victory, Djokovic cruised into the quarterfinals of the tournament.

It was a completely one sided match. Djokovic didn’t have to face tough fight from Berlocq. He took just 74 minutes to win the match. This was the second match between these two players and Djokovic has come out victorious on both the occasions.

After winning the match, Djokovic said, “I was not that happy with my performance in the first round, but, in this match, things went according to the plan. Yes, I made some mistakes in the last two games, but, that’s the way it goes.”

“I am happy that I won the match convincingly. I have got a lot of confidence from this victory.

When asked about his opponent, Djokovic said, “Berlocq is an experienced campaigner. But, he was not at the peak of his game in the match. However, he played some good shots towards the end, but, fortunately, I managed to win the second set with conviction as well.”

Djokovic broke Berlocq’s service in the second game of the first set and won the first three games on a trot to take a lead of 3-0. Berlocq held his service in the fourth game, but, that was it for him in the first set. Djokovic broke his service in the 6^th game and then, served out the seventh game to win the opening set by 6-1.

Djokovic started the second set in a fine fashion. He won the first five games in the second set to take a lead of 5-0. It seemed that the Serbian would win the set without losing any game. But, that wasn’t the case to be. Berlocq got two consecutive breakthroughs and reduced the lead to 5-3. But, Djokovic bounced back and broke Berlocq’s service for the fourth time in the set to win the match.

In the quarter final, Djokovic will take on Jurgen Melzer of Austria.

LORENZI LOSES OUT

Novak Djokovic has defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the opening round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 6-0, 6-1. Lorenzi was absolutely outclassed by the Serbian superstar. The Italian player managed to win just two games in the entire match. Djokovic, who has been given the 2^nd seed in this competition, took just 73 minutes to knock Lorenzi out of the tournament. This was the third match between these two players and Djokovic has won all three of them.

Djokovic had won the US open last year and he has started his campaign in a fine fashion this year as well. He smashed 32 winners in the match including seven aces. Djokovic didn’t have the best of starts to the match and his service was broken by Lorenzi in the very first game of the first set. But, thereafter, Djokovic played exceptionally well.  He got three breakthroughs in the first set and won the last six games consecutively to seal the first set by 6-1. In the second set, Djokovic didn’t let Lorenzi win even a single game. He won six games in a row and grabbed the second set by 6-0. In the opening game of the third set, Lorenzi managed to hold his service and took a lead of 1-0. But, after that, he wasn’t able to win any more game in the match. Djokovic wrapped up the match by winning the next six games.

In the post match interview, Djokovic said that it’s great to start the tournament with such a thumping victory. As per Djokovic, if he continues playing with the same kind of intensity, there is a very good possibility of him going all the way through to the finals. In the second round, Djokovic will take on Rogerio Dutra Da Silva of Brazil.

OLYMPIC DREAMS OVER

Novak Djokovic has been defeated by Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the bronze medal match of men’s tennis singles tournament of London Olympics. Del Potro won the match in the straight sets by 7-5, 6-4. Del Potro, who was given the eighth seed in the competition, performed brilliantly and played some fantastic shots.

In the very first game of the first set, Del Potro’s service was broken by Djokovic, but, the Argentinean quickly bounced back and got a breakthrough in the second game to level the score 1-1. Both the players kept on breaking each other’s service till the end of the 10th game. In the 11th game, Del Potro held his service to take a lead of 6-5. He had to break Djokovic’s service in the 12th game to win the set and he got the breakthrough for the sixth time in the set and won the first set by 7-5. In the second set, Del Potro again suffered a blow in the first game, but, he came back and got two consecutive breakthroughs in the second game and the fourth game to take a lead of 3-1. He kept the lead till the end and won the second set by 6-4.

Del Potro was delighted after winning the bronze medal. In the post match press conference, Del Potro said that this medal is very special for him. It has been his dream since the childhood to win an Olympic medal and he has succeeded eventually. It is the first medal for Argentina in the Olympics this year which makes it even more special. Del Potro said that he was highly disappointed after losing the semifinal match against Roger Federer and it was quite tough to recover from that defeat. But, he kept his spirits up for this game and managed to win the bronze medal.