Djokovic dominates to book a place in the Quarter-Finals

Jarnel Dhillon
By:
Jarnel Dhillon
21/01/2024
Tennis
A 25th Grand Slam for the Serb is looking likely for Novak Djokovic

Adrian Mannarino was swept aside by Novak Djokovic who was quite simply relentless in this Round of 16 clash. It took just a one hour and 46 minutes to book his place in the Quarter-Finals! 

News Insights

  • 32nd consecutive match won for Djokovic at the Australian Open
  • Djokovic has equalled the record of 58-times in a Grand Slam Quarter-Final
  • Signs of Djokovic’s illness seemed to have disappeared
  • Djokovic will face Taylor Fritz for a place in the last four

Potentially, fatigue played a big role in the lacklustre performance from Adrian Mannarino. He had already played 3 five-setters which were all lung-busting clashes. The Frenchman has a style of play which makes his workload seem effortless, however it was clear that the time spent on court in the earlier rounds has clearly taken its toll.  
 

In the early stages of the match, Djokovic was forced to defend two break points, before eventually holding serve and breaking the Mannarino serve to go 2-0 up in the first set. This was the story for the first set which lasted just 34 minutes. Mannarino hit 12 unforced errors in the first set which is much higher than the Frenchman would expect from himself.  
 
Djokovic took his time a little in the second set as it lasted 35 minutes! Djokovic racked up the games as the crowd seemed slightly tense as they were rooting for Mannarino to get on the board. Djokovic addressed the crowd’s tension in his post-match interview, ‘I wanted to lose that game in the third set because the tension was building up so much’ he said in a joking manner. 
 
Later in the afternoon, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz battled for a Quarter-FInal against the top seed. Taylor Fritz emerged as the winner as the underdog, he was tipped in our pre-match multibets too! Djokovic said the last days have been ‘really good’ which perhaps hints that the virus he picked up in the early stages has been fought away.