By Chris Oddo | Sunday September 6, 2015
Roberto Bautista Agut was awesome but it still wasn't enough to get past Novak Djokovic on Sunday night in New York.
Photo Source: Matthew Stockman/Getty
As Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut was making jaws drop at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday night, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was biding his time, weathering the storm—some of which were his own and of the emotional variety—and slowly but surely working himself to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
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It makes one wonder: on a night when all ESPN’s commentating duo of John and Patrick McEnroe could do was praise the fiery, jab-and-move attack of Bautista Agut—how good must Djokovic be to have dispatched him in relatively routine fashion?
The numbers speak for themselves in Djokovic’s case. The Serb reached his 26th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, pulling within one of Jimmy Connors for second-most all-time, and he notched his 204th career Grand Slam victory to pull ahead of Pete Sampras and into sixth all-time list.
So does the tennis. Though Bautista Agut used his forehand to put Djokovic on the defensive on many occasions on Sunday night, there was still an air of inevitability throughout the match. As hard as the Spaniard pushed, Djokovic would be there to push that much harder and end up on top.
There was a run of five consecutive games that enabled Bautista Agut to take the second set and move ahead in the third, but Djokovic was able to claim the critical break in the third and take a two sets to one lead without facing a break point.
In a topsy-turvy fourth set, Bautista Agut would bring the crowd to life with a break to get to 2-all but Djokovic snatched the break-back in the next game and took the double-break lead two games later.
Though the Serb would hiccup while serving the match out he was up to the task in the next game, grabbing his fifth break of the evening to book his spot in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic will face Feliano Lopez for a spot in the semis. The World No. 1 owns a 5-0 career record vs. the Spaniard and he’s taken 11 of 12 sets from him. Lopez knocked off Fabio Fognini in straight sets on Sunday to reach his fourth career major quarterfinal and his first in New York.
Earlier on Sunday, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic also claimed their spots in the last eight.
Notes, Numbers, Tweets
Djokovic is bidding to reach all four Grand Slam finals for the first time in his career.
Bautista Agut, 27, has reached the round of 16 in New York in consecutive seasons.
During the match, Jelena Ristic blew a kiss to John McEnroe when he caught her listening to US Open headphones and said hell. Classic!