Novak Djokovic reached his 90th career Masters 1000 quarter-final after defeating Karen Khachanov in Paris-Bercy.
The match was a repeat of the final back in 2018 where Khachanov claimed his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title. Since then, Djokovic has won all of their seven meetings.
The Serb eased to a 6-4 6-1 win in another imperious display, and extended his ATP tour winning streak to 11 matches. Djokovic has only dropped one set in that impressive run.
Djokovic broke early in the opening set to go up 3-0, but handed the break back with a double fault. He took the set after breaking the Russian’s serve at 5-4 up.
Paris-Bercy’s defending champion looked imperious in the second set, breaking serve twice before serving the match out for 6-1. He next faces 20-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who has also been in brilliant form of late.
He said afterwards ‘I think I have been playing really good tennis. I can’t compare the tournaments here and the ones that I played in Kazakhstan and Israel, but I’m on a good way, for sure.‘
‘It’s always a challenge playing Khachanov. I lost to him, the only time we played here, I lost to him 2018 in the finals, so I know he likes these kind of conditions.‘
Djokovic is currently ranked tenth in the live rankings, but would end the week seventh with the title, and could still end the year in the top five with deep runs here and at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
