Rome, May 13: The fans were back at the Foro Italico, the sun was out, and Novak Djokovic’s game was clicking.
The top-ranked Serb seemed to enjoy every moment of his 6-2, 6-1 win over Spanish qualifier Alejandro Davidovich Fokina that put him in the Italian Open quarterfinals. After spectators were banned from the opening rounds of the Rome tournament because of the coronavirus pandemic, capacity was at 25% on Thursday as part of the Italian government’s re-opening plan.
“It was not good, it was great,” Djokovic said.
“I missed the crowd as much as anybody else one of the biggest reasons why I keep on playing.”
It’s been a rough start to the clay season for Djokovic with a third-round loss to Daniel Evans at the Monte Carlo Masters followed by a defeat to Aslan Karatsev in the semifinals of his home tournament, the Belgrade Open. Djokovic said he played at least 20-30% better than he did against Taylor Fritz in his opening match in Rome. Djokovic will next face either Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas or Madrid Open finalist Matteo Berrettini.
Meanwhile, Nadal struggled to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in a three-and-a-half hour epic against 13th seed Denis Shapovalov after trailing 0-4 in the opening set. This is Nadal’s 16th quarter-final appearance in the tournament.
Also reaching the quarterfinals was 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) American Reilly Opelka, who eliminated Karatsev, an Australian Open semifinalist, 7-6 (6), 6-4.
Opelka served 18 aces and won 52 of 69 points on his serve to record his third consecutive straight-set win this week.
In the women’s tournament, top-ranked Ash Barty beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-3 and will next face American teenager Coco Gauff, who defeated Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 6-3.
Sabalenka committed more than twice as many unforced errors as Gauff 36 to 17.
Jessica Pegula, another American, followed up her victory over Naomi Osaka by eliminating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-4. (AP)
