Novak Djokovic battles past Richard Gasquet to move into the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
World number three Serb Novak Djokovic ousted Richard Gasquet of France in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California. It took one hour and thirty-five minutes for the Serb to book
his berth in the semi finals.
The Serb has featured in two main draw ATP tour matches this year. He started the year by putting in his appearance at the Australian Open where he reached the finals crumbling World No.2 Roger Federer in the semifinals. He then
moved on to play Andy Murray in the finals where he exhibited vintage class performance and was crowned the champion. In his latest appearance at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships he again defeated Roger Federer in the finals and stood victorious in straight
sets 6-3, 6-3.
On the other hand, Richard Gasquet ranked 21 in the world did not kick off the year so well, he lost to Bjorn Phau in the round of 16 at 2011 Aircel Chennai Open, Chennai, India. He again did not make it past the third round at
the Australian Open losing to Tomas Berdych.
The pair’s last meeting came last year at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai when Djokovic outplayed Gasquet in a breadstick securing a 3-1 lead in the career head-to-head.
Given their fifth meeting on tour both players looked in-form, with the Serb landing in 50 per cent of his first serve while the French managed a higher 71 per cent. The 23-year-old Serb managed to convert 80 per cent of his first
serves into points while his opponent managed a meager 50 per cent. The difference proved to be critical in deciding the outcomes of the opening set. Serb took advantage of his first serves points only, and that provided him the set 6-2
In the second set, Djokovic encountered resistance from the French as he created 5 opportunities to break and converted 3 out of them. However, converting serves into points was once again not Gasquet’s strength again as he only
managed to convert a meager 58 percent than his opponent’s 86 per cent. Ultimately, Djokovic clinched a 6-4 win improving his year-to-date win/loss record to 13-0.
Third seeded Djokovic moves on ahead to face world number two Roger Federer in the semifinals of BNP Paribas open. This will be the 22nd meeting between these two players with Federer leading 13-8 in the head-to-head record.
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