Djokovic Streaks Into Roland Garros Quarters

With twilight closing in on Roland Garros on Sunday, Novak Djokovic wasted no time securing his place in the quarter-finals.

The second seed continued his quest to retain the Coupe de Mousquetaires with a comprehensive 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-3 victory over 19th seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The Serbian fired 34 winners and converted an impressive seven of 10 (70 per cent) break chances during the two-hour and 27-minute affair.

Djokovic will face sixth seed Dominic Thiem in a blockbuster battle in Tuesday’s quarter-finals. It will be his eight consecutive appearance in the last eight on the terre battue of Roland Garros. In addition, he joins Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer atop the list of most quarter-finals reached in Paris, with 11.

“The atmosphere tonight is very special because it was the last match of the day,” said Djokovic. “The crowd was really into it. They wanted to see good tennis, but also have fun and entertain themselves, so hopefully they did.

“It was really amazing couple of times both players received a standing ovation for the efforts, which was nice to see that the crowd appreciates and recognize the effort. And for us as tennis players, obviously playing in front of such crowd is always a great joy.”

Djokovic was tested early on, but swiftly flipped the switch on Sunday evening in Paris. A forehand winner saw Ramos-Vinolas snatch a break in the first game of the match. The lead would vacillated between the two competitors as the opener wore on, but  Djokovic would have the last laugh in the ensuing tie-break, taking a one-set lead after 75 minutes.

As long and grueling as the opener was, Djokovic refused to be pressed in the second and third sets. The second seed dropped just four games the rest of the way, breaking five more times en route to the victory. 

The longest point of the tournament came with Ramos-Vinolas serving down 2-1 in the third set. Facing break point, he would claim the 41-shot rally as both players keeled over in exhaustion. The Spaniard won that battle, but Djokovic would take the encounter, capturing his first match point on a forehand winner.

“I just didn’t start out of the blocks the way I wanted,” added Djokovic. “He started very solid, not making errors and just spinning the ball well, getting a lot of balls back. There were a lot of breaks and rebreaks in the first set. But it was very close. It could have gone either way and I’m just glad that I managed to win that tie-break, because after that, obviously I started playing with more freedom and more confidence.

“The second and third went really well. I thought especially in the second I did things very well from the back of the court. I mixed it up and didn’t give him any comfort zone on the court. I always made him guess, which was one of the keys.”

Djokovic has not dropped a set (10-0) in four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Ramos-Vinolas. He will seek his 60th match win at Roland Garros when he faces Thiem in the quarter-finals. It is a rematch of the Serbian’s ruthless 6-1, 6-0 victory in the semis of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia just two weeks ago.

Ramos-Vinolas, meanwhile, completed a strong run on the European clay, which saw him rise to a career-high World No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The Spaniard notched his first win over a World No. 1 in stunning Andy Murray at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, en route to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final (l. to Nadal).

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.