LONDON: Novak Djokovic has ended his losing streak against top-10 players with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-1, win over Grigor Dimitrov at The Fever-Tree Championships.
Regardless of his current ranking of 22nd in the world, the Serbian proved too strong against his lackluster opponent. Hitting eight winners to 12 unforced errors and fending off the only break point he faced. In contrast, Dimitrov produced an erratic 26 unforced errors along with five double faults.
“Obviously Grigor made some crucial double faults today you know that handed me the first set.” Djokovic said during his after-match interview.
‘He loves playing on the grass, he’s a great quality player who has had success here so obviously being able to get the first set under my belt was a huge confidence booster for me.
‘Second set I managed to get an early break and held my serve pretty comfortably.’
At first it appeared as if the match would be a close encounter between the two. Clashing on the grass for the first time since the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, nine games went on serve before Djokovic dominated proceedings. Dimitrov’s task of serving to stay in the opening set saw him implode on the court. Hitting a series on unforced errors, including two double faults, to hand the Serbian the 6-4 lead.
From then on the highly anticipated meeting turned into a one-way show in favor of the former world No.1. Who raced through the second set by producing glimmers of the tennis that has earned him 12 grand slam titles. It wasn’t until the very last game of the match that Djokovic displayed some frailty in his play. Hitting a series of doubles faults and missing out on three match points before sealing the match with the help of a backhand slice from his opponent that drifted beyond the baseline.
Dimitrov is the first top-10 player Djokovic has defeated since Dominic Thiem at the 2017 Italian Open. It is his first triumph over a top-five player since Andy Murray at the Doha Open back in January 2017.
The victory is Djokovic’s 799th on the tour, putting him within touching distance of becoming only the 10th player in the Open Era to record 800 wins. Awaiting him in the quarter-finals at Queen’s will be either Julien Benneteau or Adrian Mannarino.
