The first day of the Davis Cup semi final clash between Serbia and Canada has ended with scores levelled at 1-1.
Novak Djokovic gave Serbia a lead of 1-0 by thrashing Vasek Pospisil in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-0, 6-4 in the first singles match. It took the world no. 1 just 1 hour and 40 minutes to get better of Pospisil. He looked in tremendous form and played some ruthless shots.
This was Djokovic’s first match after his defeat against Rafael Nadal in the final of the US Open.
Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Djokovic said, “Representing my nation is something which always motivates me. I performed pretty well and managed to get my team off to a good start which is pretty satisfying.”
“I am still struggling a bit with jet lag. It’s good that the match wasn’t too long.”
On the other hand, Pospisil was gutted after losing the first rubber. He said, “Novak is at the top of the world rankings at the moment and that’s because he has got great quality. I think he was amazing today.”
But, in the next match, Canada managed to bounce back Courtesy Milos Raonic who came out victorious against the no. 2 Serbian player Janko Tipsarevic. It was an extremely close match though and went all the way down to the wire. But, at the end, Raonic pulled it off by 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.
The Canadian pair of Pospisil and Daniel Nestor will take on the Serbian pair of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in the doubles match tomorrow.
The team which wins this tie will make it to the title round which will take place in November.
Serbia had last won the Davis Cup 3 years back in 2010 by defeating France in the final.
Novak Djokovic has come in support of his compatriot Viktor Troicki who has been handed a ban of one and half years recently by the International Tennis Federation.
Actually, Troicki was asked to give a sample of his urine and blood while he was taking part in the Monte Carlo Masters in April. The Serbian player gave the urine sample, but, refused to give the blood sample saying that he was not feeling well.
When asked about Troicki being banned, Djokovic said, “It’s not good news for Serbian tennis. I know Viktor pretty well and I am sure he hasn’t done anything wrong. I am backing him. I hope he will return back soon.”
Meanwhile, according to Troicki, the doping officer had told him that it would not make a difference if he doesn’t give the blood sample.
But, the International Tennis Federation denies anything like that. According to ITF, the doping officer had clearly told Troicki that she had no idea whether not giving the blood sample is acceptable or not.
Talking to a Serbian news channel a couple of days back, Troicki said, “It’s a tough phase for me. I am not guilty. The truth will come out.”
The ITF has made it quite clear that Troicki can appeal against this ban if he wants.
Troicki was in Croatia when he got the news that he had been suspended. Just a few hours before that, he was knocked out from the Vegeta Croatia Open. He was defeated in the straight sets in the second round by Tommy Robredo of Spain.
Troicki has been around since quite a while, but, he has so far managed to win only one ATP title in his career. He hasn’t featured in an ATP final in the last 2 years.
Novak Djokovic has defeated Guido Pella of Argentina in the second round of the French Open. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-0, 6-2.
Djokovic has not won the French Open so far in his career, but, he is looking quite determined to do it this year. He had absolutely bulldozed his opponent in the first round match and he did the same against Pella yesterday.
The Argentinean youngster looked completely hopeless against the no. 1 player in the world. He got defeated in just 86 minutes.
In the first set, none of the players dropped his serve in the first four games and the scores were levelled at 2-2 at the end of the 4th game. After that, Djokovic didn’t let Pella win any more game in that set.
The Serbian superstar broke Pella’s serve in the 5th and the 7th game and won the last four games on the trot to clinch the first set by 6-2.
There was no reduction in Djokovic’s intensity in the second set. He continued dominating and secured a bagel by playing some high quality shots.
Pella needed to win the third set to keep his hopes alive in the match, but, he couldn’t do that. His poor performance continued in the third set as well. He dropped his serve in the 4th game to get trailed by 1-3.
The next three games went with the serve and the score was 5-2 in Djokovic’s favour when the 7th game ended.
The world no. 1 secured his win by breaking Pella’s serve in the 8th game and made his way into the third round.
In the third round, Djokovic will face the Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov who defeated Lucas Pouille in the second round.
Novak Djokovic has defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Djokovic won the match by 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Djokovic was feeling the heat in the first set. He was not looking comfortable at all. His service was broken twice consecutively and he was trailing by 0-4 at one point of time in the first set. He decreased the lead to 5-3 with a serve break in the 8th game, but, eventually, he couldn’t prevent Youzhny from winning the set. The Russian player served out the 10th game and sealed the set by 6-4.
In the second set, Djokovic looked more determined. He won his first couple of service games before sneaking a breakthrough in the 4th game which gave him a 3-1 lead. The Serbian superstar broke again in the 6th game and then, by holding his serve in the 7th game, he won the set by 6-1.
In the decider, Djokovic again had a blazing start. He broke Youzhny’s serve in the very first game of the set. However, his advantage didn’t last long as Youzhny broke back in the 6th game and the scores got equalized at 3-3.
The next couple of games went with the serve. Youzhny dropped his serve for the second time in the set in the 9th game which gave Djokovic the chance to finish off the match by serving out the next game. He did that with ease and won the match.
In the post match interview, Djokovic said, “I was playing on the clay court after a while and I found it hard to adjust at the start. The rhythm was not there. But, thankfully, it ended well.”
In the third round, Djokovic will play against Juan Monaco of Argentina.
The world no. 1 Novak Djokovic will be looking to get back to winning ways in the upcoming Sony Open after being defeated by Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi final of BNP Paribas Open.
Djokovic was defeated by Del Potro by 6-4, 4-6, 4-6.
This was Djokovic’s first defeat in the last four and half months. The last time that he had lost a match was against Sam Querrey in October last year.
In the Sony Open, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will not be participating. Nadal wants to give his knees a bit of rest after playing quite a few tournaments recently. Federer also wants to have some time off.
In the absence of these two players, Djokovic has a great chance of going all the way in the Sony Open. The only player who can be a threat for Djokovic in this tournament is Andy Murray.
Djokovic has won this tournament three times before. So, he has fond memories of this tournament.
Djokovic will start his campaign on Friday. His first match will be against Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic. Rosol is the same player who had defeated Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon Championships last year.
When asked about his chances in Sony Open, Djokovic said, “I have got a lot of success in this tournament in the past. So, I will enter this tournament in a very good frame of mind.”
When asked about his defeat in the BNP Paribas Open, Djokovic said, “I didn’t play well that day and it happens once in a while when you play at this level. It’s impossible to keep winning matches all the time. You have some poor days like this. But, I put those things out of my mind straight away. I don’t like thinking about defeats.”
Novak Djokovic has defeated Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in the third round of the Australian Open 2013. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. This victory took Djokovic into the pre quarter finals.
This was the ninth match between these two players and Djokovic defeated Stepanek for the eighth time.
In the first set, both the players had a decent start. Neither of the two players succeeded in getting a breakthrough in the first 9 games. At the end of the ninth game, the score was 5-4 in the favour of Djokovic. The Serbian superstar gave Stepanek the first blow in the 10th game and that was the end of the set.
Djokovic continued to flourish in the next two sets as well. He held his entire serve in both the sets and broke his opponent’s service once in each set to wrap up the match.
In the post match interview, Djokovic said, “I have played against Stepanek before. He is a tough player and he loves playing at big stages. So, I knew that it was not going to be an easy match for me.”
“When you play against a quality player, you don’t get too many breakpoints. So, it’s important to make sure that you capitalize on most of the breakpoints that you get. That’s what I did. I capitalized on every opportunity that came my way.”
“I have played very well so far, but, it’s only midway through the tournament. There are some important matches coming up. So, I need to continue playing in the same way.”
In the next round, Djokovic will take on Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. Wawrinka made his way into the fourth round by securing victory over Sam Querrey of America.
Uncategorized | admin | 
October 9, 2013 11:53 am | 
Comments Off on DRAW ON FIRST DAY