Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic has played his part in perfecting the dream quarterfinal with Roger Federer the 2018 US Open draw had designed for tennis fans. The Serbian routed unseeded Portuguese Joao Sousa in three sets by 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in two-hour one-way match on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon.
After a couple of very pleasant summer days in the New York area, the sticky heat that has plagued the first days of the tournament has made its return to Flushing Meadows, forcing the USTA to apply the “Extreme Heat Policy” that had been created during the first week to help player cope with some of the toughest conditions they have had to face for years here in New York.
Novak Djokovic’s round-of-16 had been scheduled during the day session, not before 2 pm, and has taken place with a temperature of 32 degrees Celsius and a humidity above 60%. The Serbian had already experienced some clear discomfort during his first round against Marton Fucsovic when the heat had already forced several retirements during the day, and even this match he had to request medical attention during the third set.
During the previous four matches Sousa had never managed to win a set and even on this occasion he only sporadically managed to force his opponent on his back foot, mainly because of Djokovic’s excessively defensive attitude. Souza was in fact much more prone to advance closer to the baseline during the rallies and try down-the-line solutions while Djokovic remained 2-3 meters outside the court relying on his proverbial defensive skills.
Djokovic was broken only once in the entire match, at 1-1 in the second set, but he broke-back at love immediately in the following game to avoid any unnecessary effort. When he was starting to struggle physically due to the heat, the Serbian placed a 10-1 run at 3-3 in the third set that allowed him to serve out the match and reach the quarterfinals at the US Open for the eleventh time.
Should he face Roger Federer in his next match, this would be the 47th time the two players face each other: Djokovic is marginally leading the series by 24-22 and has won the last meeting between the two only a few weeks ago in the Western&Southern Open in Cincinnati. It would be the seventh time the two cross paths at the US Open where they both have won three matches each, but Djokovic has won the last three meetings, albeit in two of them he had to face match point.
