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.
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Greatest Serbian Tennis Players | admin | 
February 2, 2013 9:46 pm | 
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