Third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat 29th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 7-6 7-6 6-2 in a third-round match of the French Open on Friday. The match lasted for around three and a half hours, with Davidovich Fokina coming close, yet failing to close.
Djokovic, on the other hand, was not at his best, but did just about enough during the key moments to scrape through. The Serb thus stayed in hunt for a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title. Although he won in straight sets on the day, the scoreline probably flattered him to an extent.
How Novak Djokovic beat Davidovich Fokina at the French Open
Two sets of titanic proportions were each decided by tie-breaks:
Each of the first two sets went into a tie-break, as Djokovic managed to win both. The first set went on for a staggering 90 minutes, with Davidovich Fokina throwing away a 3-1 lead in the tie-break to lose it 4-7.
The two players then kept exchanging breaks in the second set, with Davidovich Fokina saving a set point in the 10th game to take it into a tie-break again. Djokovic raced to a 4-1 lead in the tie-break, but the Spaniard levelled the score at 4-4 with the help of two audacious drop shots. However, the Serb then took advantage of an unforced error committed by the Spaniard to win the tie-break 7-5.
Davidovich Fokina managed to dominate Djokovic in the crosscourt backhand exchanges, which was a great feat in itself. The Spaniard’s crosscourt backhand kept winning him points. However, he often hit the ball wide while going down-the-line with his backhand. He was also guilty of hitting quite a few of his groundstrokes long.
Djokovic, meanwhile, relied a great deal on drop shots and his forehand crosscourt in the first set. In fact, he hit his forehand really well throughout the match, but, quite unusually, did not have they more dominant backhand on the court on Friday.
Novak Djokovic raced through the third set:
Losing two very close sets affected the Spaniard’s morale, and Novak Djokovic made full use of it. Midway through the second set, Djokovic had started hitting his shots high de and slower towards Davidovich Fokina’s backhand, thereby forcing the Spaniard to use extra power to hit his crosscourt backhand.
He followed the same tactic in the third set, with his high shots pushing Davidovich Fokina further behind the baseline. The Serb then used his drop shots extensively to put the ball beyond the Spaniard’s reach. He raced to a 3-0 lead in the third set and then managed to hold on to his lead to win the match comfortably.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
