Top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Quentin Halys of France 7-6 7-6 in the second round of the Adelaide International on Thursday. The match lasted for almost two hours and saw a very close battle between the two. Djokovic will face Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the quarterfinal on Friday.
The 35-year-old Serb thus stayed on course for his first title of the year, but was not allowed a smooth ride by Halys, who is almost a decade his junior. The Frenchman fought creditably, but in the end Djokovic’s quality was a bit too much for him.
How Novak Djokovic beat Halys at the Adelaide International
Djokovic’s forehand allowed him to come from behind to win the first set:
Halys was off to a great start, breaking Djokovic in the second game of the first set. He then held his serve to go 3-0 up. The Frenchman kept rushing the net frequently from the start of the match and played a few sumptuous drop volleys to stun the Serb.
However, Djokovic was not to be bogged down for long. He started playing his forehands with a lot of venom and hit a few winners off it. The Serb is always more dangerous when he starts hitting winners off his forehand and it was not long before he broke back in the ninth game to reduce the deficit to 4-5.
The set then went into a tiebreak, and Djokovic kept his nose ahead to win it. Halys’ job from that point onwards was always going to be very tough, but he did not give up without a fight.
Halys continued to give Djokovic a stiff fight, but the Serb sneaked through:
Halys continued to play with the same resolve in the second set as well. He had to save a match point in the 10th game of the set to take it to the tie-break. The Frenchman played a lot of crosscourt slices to slow down the pace of the rallies, but Djokovic’s forehand kept winning points for the Serb.
Djokovic once again won the tie-break using his experience. The Serb kept coming into the net at times to push the pressure on the Frenchman, as the latter committed a few unforced errors. Still, there was not much between the two on the day, and Halys should be proud of his effort.
Main Photo from Getty.
