In order to get to the Adelaide quarterfinals on Thursday and step up his preparations for the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic overcame a rough start to defeat Frenchman Quentin Halys.
The Adelaide International’s top seed from Serbia defeated Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) to go to the round of eight. Tuesday saw Djokovic return to the location of his 2007 title run and defeat France’s Constant Lestienne in straight sets.
He repeated it against Lestienne’s doubles partner Halys, although he struggled to get going and lost the opening set 2-5 before winning. “Today, he performed like a top-10 player. Djokovic continued, “As far as my game is concerned, I feel good on the court.”
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“He was serving extremely well, and I didn’t get off to the best of starts. Two tiebreaks were arguably the most realistic result because it was difficult to break.” he continued
The former world number one, who won Wimbledon among his five trophies last year, dropped his opening service game against the 64th-ranked Frenchman despite having the support of the boisterous crowd on a packed centre court.
In game three, he had two break points, but he was unable to convert them. He waited until game seven, when he broke to love and quickly won the tiebreaker.
After Halys saved two match points at 5-4 in the second set, which also ended in a tiebreak, there was little difference between them. Djokovic eventually won when Halys missed a backhand.
The matchup with world number 18 Shapovalov, who advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, is Djokovic’s reward. All seven of Djokovic’s prior meetings with the Canadian have ended in victories.
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Shapovalov said he was determined to keep up his good form and is still riding the wave of helping Canada win the Davis Cup. “Definitely attempting to put that into practise on a personal level. Undoubtedly, it’s off to a tremendous start. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week and want to build on a positive start.” Djokovic stated.
