TENNIS ATP CINCINNATI – Tommy Robredo beat world number one Novak Djokovic 7-6, 7-5 in the third round of the Cincinnati Master 1000. It’s the second tournament in a row that the Serb fails to reach the quarter finals. Will he be ready for the US Open?
For only the second time in his career, Tommy Robredo won a match against the World Number 1. The only other time he beat the first player of the ranking was in 2003 at the French Open when he defeated Lleyton Hewitt in a five sets. The Spaniard ended Djokovic’s attempt to complete his Career Golden Master as the Cincinnati tournament is the only Master 1000 title that he hasn’t been able to win yet. But more significantly this defeat casts doubt on the Serb’s form with just a few days to go before the start of the US Open.
Last week Nole lost in the third round against Tsonga, but the assumption after that loss was that the Serb just needed to find his rhythm after the post Wimbledon break during which he got married, but after this defeat the problem seems to be a bit more serious than just lack of match practice.
“I just don’t feel comfortable. That’s it.” Nole said after the defeat. “Just many, many, many things are not clicking these two weeks on hard courts. It’s unfortunate, but it’s more than obvious I’m not playing even close to what I’m supposed to play.”
Asked what he thought was the main problem, the World Number 1 replied, “there are no real issues. It’s just that feeling the ball well on the court. That’s it. You know, players that I have lost against both two weeks, they were playing just better than me. I have to deal with that. That’s it”
Djokovic will now head for New York to, “Practice. Practice, that’s it. Get as much as hours on the court, analyse the game, analyse what I did wrong, and just trying to get better”.
Despite getting married after his second Wimbledon title this summer, Djokovic said he trained well and didn’t take more time off, “I practiced a lot. I had, you know, more than enough practice. It’s just that’s sport. You can’t win them all.”
Sill in defeat the Serb didn’t lose his sense of humour, “Two racquets. I’m going to play with two racquets.” he said smiling. “Obviously we want to peak in New York. Expected more from myself, but, you know, I have to keep on going. Grand Slam is coming up, and that’s where I want to do well.”
In the quarterfinals, Robredo will face David Ferrer who won against 7-5, 6-0 against Mikhail Youzhny. The winner of this match will face in the semifinal the winner of the quarter final match between Stan Wawrinka, winner over Cilic 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, and Julien Benneteau, winner over Janowicz 7-5, 6-1.
In the bottom half of the draw Milos Raonic will face Fabio Fognini. The Canadian defeated Steve Johnson 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 and the Italian won his third round match 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 against Yen-Hsun Lu. The winner of this quarter final will face either Murray or Federer in the bottom half semifinal.
