By Chris Oddo | Sunday June 3, 2018
After a slow start Novak Djokovic rallied past Fernando Verdasco to reach a record 12th Roland Garros quarterfinal.
Photo Source: Cameron Spencer/Getty
We may not be seeing peak Novak Djokovic in Paris this week, but with each passing victory the 12-time major champion seems to inch closer to his best tennis—could he possibly find it next Sunday when the final is played on Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris?
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Such sentiments might be premature, but the facts do point to a resurgence. Djokovic has raised his level in each successive round and on Sunday he breezed past Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to qualify for a record 12th Roland Garros quarterfinal.
The Serb will face Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in the quarterfinals. The World No.72 had never won a Grand Slam coming into Roland Garros, but he stunned No.8-seeded David Goffin on Sunday to become the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist at Roland Garros since 2008.
Verdasco himself has engineered quite a few Grand Slam upsets, including a first-round takedown of Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open in 2016 and a first-round victory over Germany's Sascha Zverev in Paris last year.
But on this day he was off-kilter from the start.
It took Djokovic 29 minutes to take a 2-1 lead in a scratchy first set that featured 33 unforced errors (15 from Djokovic) but as he gradually moved ahead in the opener the Serb began to relax and employ his tactics to greater effect against the hard-hitting forehand of the 34-year-old.
Djokovic regularly put air beneath his shots, taking the pace out of the rallies and forcing Verdasco to swing for more, and it was a strategy that paid dividends as the match wore on and the Spaniard began to struggle with a blister on his left foot that he had assessed late in the second set.
Verdasco had managed to make set two interesting by breaking Djokovic at love for 3-all, but he was immediately broken back and though he held to force Djokovic to serve out the set, the Serb was up to the task.
With Verdasco’s movement seemingly compromised, Djokovic kept up the chase in the final set, breaking twice to open up a 5-1 lead and serving out the victory in a cool two hours and 25 minutes.
Djokovic finished with 21 winners against 29 unforced errors, while Verdasco cracked 28 winners but littered up the stat sheet with 48 unforced.
It’s been a season full of trials and tribulations for the former World No.1, but his season has taken a complete turn from the beginning of Rome. Since then he has won nine of ten matches and as he prepares for his quarterfinal match, it’s starting to feel like he is the one man with a shot to challenge Rafael Nadal in Paris.
In the end it may not prove to be his destiny this year, but the mere fact that Djokovic is in the conversation once again is a positive sign for the rest of the 2018 tennis season.