By Chris Oddo | Thursday July 28, 2016

Novak Djokovic is back in business mode at the Rogers Cup. The world No.1 powered past 37-year-old Radek Stepanek in an entertaining clash, 6-2, 6-4, to book his spot alongside Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

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Djokovic improved to 12-1 against Stepanek including 11 wins consecutively, but the lopsided head-to-head didn’t keep the 37-year-old Czech from having his moments on Thursday. After dropping the opening set, Stepanek brought the crowd to its feet with a magical running forehand that earned him a break point in the opening game of the second set (see video above).

Stepanek would break soon after and consolidate for a 2-0 lead, but Djokovic would level at 2-all, breaking with a wicked crosscourt re-drop that had the crowd groaning with delight.

Stepanek stayed level until the tenth game, but with the Czech serving to stay alive in the match Djokovic cracked the door ajar with a beautiful down-the-line forehand return winner that gave him three match points. Stepanek would save the first, brilliantly, but the Serb returned the favor with a spot-on backhand lob that landed for a clean winner to clinch the victory in 88 minutes.

Djokovic finished with 16 winners and 16 unforced errors on the evening, and he saved four of five break points.

The world No.1 improves to 48-4 on the season and 30-1 on hard courts. He’ll square off with Berdych for the 27th time on Friday. Djokovic has won 24 of those contests, including the last eleven.