Novak Djokovic defeats Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to move to the quarter-finals of Mutua Madrid Open
World number two, Serbian Novak Djokovic equalled Ivan Lendl’s record of 29 straight wins at the start of a season as he crushed world number 29 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in straight sets in the third round at the Mutua Madrid
Open in Madrid on Thursday. The Serbian lost just three games in the entire match, winning it 6-1, 6-2 in 51 minutes.
Djokovic was in a devastating form from the start of the match as he broke Garcia-Lopez in the second and fourth game of the opening set, racing to a 5-0 lead. The Spaniard managed to hold his serve in the sixth game and avoided
a bagel set. Serving at 5-1, Djokovic smacked a backhand winner to clinch the set 6-1.
The Serbian hit a single ace and 53 percent of the first serves in the opening set. The 23-year-old was brilliant with his first serve conversion rate as he converted an amazing 100 percent of the first serves into points in the
first set. Djokovic did not face any break point and capitalized on two of the four break point opportunities he created in the opening set.
Not giving Garcia-Lopez any opportunity to comeback in the match, Djokovic broke the Spaniard in the very first game of the second set. The Serbian broke again in the seventh game and served out the set at 5-2.
Djokovic fired four aces and 71 percent of the first serves in the second set. The Serbian delivered 12 first serves and won a point on each of them in the second set. On the other hand, Garcia-Lopez hit 82 percent of the first
serves, winning 61 percent of the points on them in the second set. Djokovic was so dominating with his serve that he did not face any break point in the second set. The right-handed converted two of the three break points he received in the second set.
Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, Djokovic said, "[My] confidence is obviously very high and at this stage it plays an important role in my game and I'm trying to use it to continue this winning streak.
I'm taking one match at a time, focusing on my next rival and that's very important."
The Serbian added, "I was winning my service games really comfortably and that's something that I'm happy about today. It's a very encouraging fact for my upcoming matches especially on clay where you don't expect that many free
points with the serve.”
Djokovic faces another Spaniard David Ferrer, ranked sixth in the world, in the quarter-finals. Ferrer defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3) in the round of 16.
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