A feisty Novak Djokovic moved into the quarter-finals of the
Internazionali d'Italia by seeing off Roberto Bautista Agut in straight
sets on Thursday.
The 12-time grand slam champion will face Juan Martin del Potro or
Kei Nishikori in the last eight after beating the Spaniard 6-4 6-4 at
the Foro Italico.
There were more encouraging signs from Djokovic ahead of the French
Open as the second seed stayed in the hunt for only his second title of
the year.
And there was fire in the Serbian's belly, as he swore at the chair
umpire after being broken in the second set, having been given a time
violation.
Djokovic has endured a disappointing year and recently parted company
with his long-time coaching staff, but the Serbian appeared to have
rediscovered some drive and broke three times to advance under blue
skies in Rome.
Bautista Agut claimed his first win over Djokovic at the sixth
attempt in the Shanghai Masters last October, but there was to be no
repeat in the Eternal City.
Djokovic was moving around the court more freely than he has been for
much of this season, breaking to lead 4-3 when Bautista Agut netted a
backhand and wrapping up the opening set after saving a first break
point in the next game.
Bautista Agut made a fight of it after going 3-1 down in the second,
winning three games in a row to get his nose in front, with Djokovic
venting his fury at the chair umpire for being ticked off over the
amount of time it was taking him to serve.
Djokovic put the blame on a ball boy before channelling his
frustration to secure a win that was sealed with a sublime forehand
winner.
No comments: