Novak Djokovic is successfully continuing his title-defending journey with a win over Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round, 6-3 6-3 in an hour and 7 minutes. Novak Djokovic’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be either Dominic Thiem or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Both Djokovic and Lopez started strong on their service games, waiting for an opening on one another’s serve. For Djokovic, the one and only break point in the first set came at 3-2 for the Serb. It was a bit of a surprise, as the Spanish leftie won his first two service games to love. Djokovic took the lead with a break at 40-30, and was leading 4-2. Both players then held on to their serves without bigger trouble, and Djokovic served the set out 6-3 after 30 minutes. Lopez lost the set pretty routinely, despite losing only 4 points on serve, and not losing any after first serve. Djokovic was just not making mistakes and not giving any chances to his opponent.
Djokovic took charge in the second set early, breaking Lopez at 1-1 in the first deuce game of the match. Both players were strong on their service games from then, until an epic game at 4-2. Lopez was serving, got up to 30-0 and it looked like business as usual. Djokovic however rallied back to 30-40 and got a break point opportunity, which he failed to capitalize on. After one more break point and 3 deuces, Lopez got his hard-fought game, only to be broken at 3-5, when serving to stay in the match. Lopez got 15-40 down on his serve, saved one match point but then ultimately lost to Novak Djokovic. The World No. 1 seemed dominant throughout the match. Djokovic has now made his head-to-head with Lopez 8-1, with the only loss being the retirement in Dubai. Djokovic’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be decided later today, in the match between Dominic Thiem and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
