Novak Djokovic defeats Juan Martin Del Potro after play resumes on Day 7 – French Open 2011
Serbian juggernaut, Novak “Djoker” Djokovic extended his season winning streak to 40 wins as he did away with Argentine giant, Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round as their match resumed at the 2011 Roland Garros on Saturday, May 28th.
The Serb took nearly three hours over two days to secure a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory against the Argentine
A semi-final career best here, Djokovic hopes to ride his current unstoppable form to make it further this time around. With seven titles under his belt including the season opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open; the Serb might get his wish next week.
Blasting away Thiemo de Bakker in straight sets in the first set, and then Victor Hanescu retiring in the second round; Djokovic setup a third round clash with Del Potro. This is the Serb’s fourth meeting on tour with the Argentine as he now extends his winning streak to four matches against him.
Beginning his ascent at 1-1 in the opener, Djokovic broke his opponent’s serve in the fourth game to lead the set 4-1, extending it to 5-2 minutes later. Serving out the set at 5-3, the unstoppable Serb held his serve perfectly as Del Potro sent shots astray.
Djoker went one up in the set score as he clinched an easy 6-3 win in the first set. Taking about 46 minutes, Djokovic won a whopping 85% on his first serve including fourteen winners to lead the set score.
An expensive double fault in the fourth game of the second set cost Djokovic his serve as he trailed 1-4 in the game score. Failing to bounce back, Djokovic lost the set 3-6.
Due to bad light the chair umpire called off play for the day at 9:15 pm local. The match again resumed on Saturday as the two superstars followed Andy Murray after his comfortable victory against Michael Berrer.
Resuming play in the third set, both players well rested started off strong matching blow for blow. A comfortable hold of serves from the two kept the score tied for the first four games. However, forcing back to back errors on Del Potro in the sixth game at a deuce, Djoker was able to go 4-2 in the lead. Serving out the set at 6-3 without a loss of a single point, the Serb was able to clinch another 6-3 win going, 2-1 in the set score.
In-form Djoker continued his dominance over the Argentine as he capitalised on two early breaks to lead the game score 4-1 with minimal loss of points in any game. An exchange of breaks later, Djokovic was left serving out the set at 5-2 securing a 6-2 win for himself.
Djokovic moves on ahead to play Richard Gasquet in the fourth round. The latter defeated Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in four sets to move on ahead at the event.
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