In three rounds and less than two hours of play, Novak Djokovic took the measure of Jan-Lennard Struff to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open. He will find Taylor Fritz there, a fall without more difficulty from Tomas Machac.
Novak Djokovic can still believe in a 25th title in Grand Slam. After failing in the semi-finals in Australia, in Roland-Garros and then in Wimbledon, the Serbian will be at the quarterfinals of the US Open. For this, he mastered Jan-Lennard Struff in three rounds. A meeting that the world’s number 7 started on the side, taking the German service twice to lead four games to nothing. If the world 144th has reacted to immediately erase one of its two delay breaks, it was not able to go back further.
Without wavering, Novak Djokovic completed this first round on his commitment, at the second set ball. The match then shot in the standoff with four of the first six games of the second round won white by the one that was used. It was in the seventh that the situation changed with the Serbian who went to get his first break ball and then converted it. He then completed the set on the commitment of a Jan-Lennard Struff more than ever back to the wall.
But the German was not able to raise their heads, conceding its service from the start of the third round. So led three games to nothing, the 144th player in the ATP ranking could only see the games scrolling before a quickly that has become inevitable.
It is on the service of Jan-Lennard Struff that Novak Djokovic sealed the fate of the meeting even before the chronometer indicates two hours (6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in 1h51 ‘).
Fritz dismisses Machac without blinking
For a place in the last square, The Olympic champion last year in Paris will have to fight with Taylor Fritz. The American, seeded number 4 of the tournament, played from Tomas Machac in three sets. A meeting whose start has proven to be very balanced. It was necessary to wait for the sixth game to see the world number 4 to obtain its first break ball, without however exploiting it. After this first try, the finalist of the US Open last year held the lesson. While the Czech was used to stay in the round of five games at four, the American raised the tone.
This time, he knew how to be decisive to take the service of his opponent and pocket this first set. An ascendant that the native of Rancho Santa Fe could have confirmed from the start of the second round, missing a break ball on the first pass in the service of Tomas Machac. If the debates have been balanced again, the Czech has never been able to break the American and it was the latter who unlocked the lock in the last straight line.
Taking the service of the 22nd world, Taylor Fritz did not tremble to corp the addition in this meeting at the first set ball. The third round saw the world number 4 take the ascendant earlier, from the third game and on its first break opportunity. Always so solid at the service, the American was not endangered by Tomas Machac. The Czech ended up bowing by conceding its service one last time. Thanks to this success (6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in 1h39 ‘), Taylor Fritz will play his third quarter-final consecutive to Flushing Meadows.
