Novak Djokovic walked into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Thursday with a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Stan Wawrinka, while Iga Swiatek continued her attempt for a fifth straight tournament win by defeating Victoria Azarenka. Chasing a sixth title in Rome, Djokovic needed an hour and 16 minutes to pass his Swiss opponent without stretching. Wawrinka, whose first round win over Reilly Opelka was his first win in 15 months, was no match for top class Djokovic and after a few classic passes he showed little resistance.
The injured 37-year-old, who now stands at 361 in the world, defeated Djokovic in the final to win two of his three Grand Slam titles, but has now lost 20 of their 26 career meetings.
“It’s great to see Stan back… You can see he’s not where he wants to be physically yet, but he’s still Stan Wawrinka. He can hurt you if you give time,” Djokovic said after the game.
“I think I did a good job at that point. I really moved him around the field and kept my serve pretty comfortable.”
The only real moment of pressure for Djokovic was when Wawrinka broke the serve in game six of the second set.
However, he failed to capitalize, double faults at the breaking point in the next match to give 20-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic a chance to serve for the match he didn’t pass up.
Djokovic will face third-seeded Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, while the King of Clay will face Canada’s Denis Shapovalov on center court.
swiatek ‘wins ugly’
The world number one, Swiatek, took her 25th straight win by beating Azarenka 6-4, 6-1 despite a rocky start.
Swiatek, 20, is the favorite for the French Open starting later this month and showed why in an impressive performance against Azarenka, himself a former top player and two-time Australian Open winner.
However, she had to come back from losing the first three games of the match and then fought her way through a series of long games before finally breaking Azarenka’s determination early in the deciding second set.
“I didn’t start well and everyone could see that. I’m really happy with the way I reacted and how I improved in the first set,” Swiatek told reporters.
“I’m glad I was able to win a bit ugly in the first set and get better in the second. It gives me confidence that even if my game isn’t one hundred percent good, I can still win matches. So it works both ways on.” †
Early bird Zverev
Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas were able to compete in the semifinals of the men’s tournament after they both made it to the quarterfinals.
World number three, Zverev, defeated Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in the early game on center court to set up a last-eight clash with Cristian Garin, who Marin Cilic defeated 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
The German had complained about playing late into the night in his run-up to the Madrid final last week and has so far been assigned two morning games in the Italian capital.
“I’d rather play at 11am (0900 GMT) instead of 1am (2300 GMT). I think any player would say that. Something in between would be nice too, I think,” Zverev told reporters.
promoted
Monte Carlo Masters champion Tsitsipas had to work harder for his 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over former Paris Masters winner Karen Khachanov.
In the last eight, Tsitsipas will face local hero Jannik Sinner, the only Italian left in the men’s lottery after beating Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).
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