“He played a like Top 10,” Novak Djokovic makes a brilliant comeback against Quentin Halys to make the quarter-finals in Adelaide
Novak Djokovic - IMAGO / AAP
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic had a testing outing in his Round of 16 match at the 2023 Adelaide International. Up against Frenchman, Quentin Halys, Djokovic had to stage a big comeback to make it to the quarter-finals in straight-sets. Despite the World No. 64’s best efforts, Djokovic won the match 7-6(3), 7-6(5).
To everyone’s surprise, Halys took a 5-2 lead in the first set and was serving for the set at 5-3. Djokovic however brought his A-game out just in time to break the Frenchman on two consecutive serves while holding his own to force a tiebreaker. Halys could not defend well in the tiebreaker as the Serb continued his unbeaten streak in Australia.
Despite being tested, Djokovic did not bear any grudge against the Frenchman. He was happy to have faced a good challenge and credited Halys for a fantastic outing and a match.
“It was a great performance from my opponent today and I want to congratulate him for a great fight. He played like a Top 10 opponent. He was serving big, hitting his spots and on a fast court like this it’s tough to break, so two tie-breaks is a realistic score in today’s match. I’m glad to overcome the challenge,” said Djokovic during his on-court interview after his win.
Novak Djokovic up for another stern test in the quarter-finals
Following the win over Quentin Halys, another challenge awaits Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. Roman Safiullin‘s victor Denis Shapovalov will now take on the 21-time Grand Slam title winner for a place in the semi-finals. Shapovalov defeated Safiullin 6-4, 6-3 to make a good start to his season.
“Denis is one of the most complete players out there. He has a very dynamic style of tennis. He has a big serve, comes to the net, is comfortable playing at the back of a court and he’s a great athlete. I haven’t played him for a while so I’m looking forward to it. Every match from here gets tougher and I’m gonna be ready for that,” said Djokovic about his upcoming clash with the Canadian young gun.
The upcoming quarter-final tie will be the eighth meeting between Djokovic and Shapovalov with the former World No. 1 leading the tie 7-0. Shapovalov has won only two sets against Djokovic in their seven matches, both coming in different matches.
Incase you missed:
Nick Kyrgios suffers another injury setback as Australian Open campaign takes a big hit
Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)