It was not a breathtaking display, not one filled with dazzling tennis liberated of nerves. In fact, there were probably quite a few nerves jangling when Novak Djokovic was pegged back to one set all. It was, as Brad Gilbert calls it, “winning ugly”.
His opponent, Roberto Bautista-Agut, had advanced courtesy of a David Goffin retirement in Round 3. Djokovic might have felt like he had dodged a bullet with that, seeing as Goffin took a set off him in Cincinnati, but Bautista Agut proved himself to be an equally as tricky opponent.
Djokovic, usually so reliant on his incredible fitness, looked oddly lethargic in the opening set, labouring slightly in some of the baseline exchanges. He came into the net on various occasions, perhaps in an attempt to shorten the points. Whatever the purpose of the strategy, he executed it to great success and in the first set the Serbian won 11 out of 13 of his net approaches. The only break in the first went the way of Djokovic at 4-3, thanks to a wonderful passage of play at break point, in which Djokovic brushed a backhand short and then clipped a forehand crosscourt after sprinting up to Bautista Agut’s own dink. The World #1 pumped his fist, buoyed by the crowd’s reaction and likely out of sheer relief that he had finally made the breakthrough.
And then many expected that, after Djokovic had taken the first set 6-3, he would up the ante and begin to turn on the style. He led the Spaniard by four games to two in the second set, a break up. However at this point it seemed that Bautista-Agut had finally recognised the need to change from his usual solid baseline style, and instead play an extremely high pressing game to have any chance of defeating the World #1. The change of style paid dividends, and the Spaniard wreaked havoc with his unorthodox forehand, moving round onto it at every given opportunity. Stringing together four games in a row, Bautista Agut took the second set 6-4.
Despite the initial reaction of stamping on his racket and then tossing it aside, Djokovic was ultimately invigorated by this hiccup, taking the third set 6-4 and beginning to lengthen the rallies and cut out the errors. It resulted in a meagre four winners in the third set, and not the most glamorous tennis, but Djokovic still fulfilled his showman duties, putting his hand to his ear – inspiring a roar from the crowd – after a drop volley winner to take Bautista-Agut’s serve at 2-2 in the fourth set. The fourth set saw Djokovic’s serve broken a further two times, which will be of some worry to his camp. But the #1 seed returned superbly, winning 8/10 points off Bautista Agut’s second serve and taking the final set 6-3.
On stamping on his racket, in the post-match press conference Djokovic said, “I was frustrated with the fact that from 4-2 and 15-40 [on Agut’s serve], I wasn’t able to capitalise on those opportunities and to lose five games in a row, I cannot allow myself to do that.” Indeed, going into the second week, he will certainly have to improve.
Williams Sisters Set Up Clash
Venus Williams breezed through her match against Anett Kontaveit, defeating the qualifier 6-2 6-1 in 50 minutes – the quickest match of this year’s women’s singles. In a similarly impressive performance where she only expended six unforced errors yet executed 18 winners, Serena dispatched her difficult opponent, Madison Keys, 6-3 6-3. She did not give a single break point to her American compatriot, and looked much improved on her serve after delivering a plethora of double faults in the two previous rounds – notably versus Bertens where she delivered 10 double faults.
So now we are faced with the mouth-watering prospect of a Williams’ sisters meeting in the last eight, inevitably to be staged on the Arthur Ashe stadium. Interestingly, Venus leads Serena on the ace chart this tournament, topping it with 33 aces to Serena’s 26. Venus has also defeated Belinda Bencic on her way to the fuarterfinals, the woman who defeated Serena just a month ago in Toronto. With Serena pursuing the Grand Slam, there is also the sub-plot of whether Venus will feel comfortable with the encounter, and whether her determination to win will be slightly diminished. Whatever Venus’ feelings though, if both take to the court like they did on Sunday, it will make for a meeting of the highest quality.
PLUS: Check out Kristina Mladenovic’s through the legs shot during her victory against Ekaterina Makarova.
That is the shot of a confident player.
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