Novak Djokovic dumps Radek Stepanek to reach the quarterfinal – Western & Southern Open 2011
Serbian rampage continued at Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, as the world number one, Novak Djokovic, won his third round clash against the 29th ranked Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic on Thursday afternoon.
The top seeded Serb blasted his way to the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event by outclassing Stepanek in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, taking one hour and twenty two minutes of play.
The competition was staged on the outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States, with Djokovic booking a berth in his 11th quarter-final of the running ATP season.
Djokovic’s victory over the Czech competitor extended his unbelievable record to 55-1, with the Serbian surging for his 10 championship title of the year. He registered his fifth straight victory over Stepanek, improving his all-time
head-to-head lead against the 29th ranked Czech by 6-1 after Thursday’s matchup.
The contest was another show of sheer dominance from the belligerent world number one, forcing his way to victory. Stepanek fought tooth and nail in the game but the top seeded Serb proved too good for him to contain. The Czech
broke the Serbian serve three times in the game but suffered six cracking break point conversions from Djokovic to finish the contest on the losing end.
Despite winning the matchup on the most assertive note, Djokovic’s serve lacked a lot to be desired in the game. His precision reached merely 47 per cent and he reeled off 17 out of 24 first serve points to come out as the winner
in the end.
“There are periods of the match where I serve okay and then periods where I serve very bad, but that’s okay,” expressed Djokovic after wrapping up victory against Stepanek. “It all happens. I played so many matches, and they caught
up to me a little bit. It’s expected that some part of my game is not working 100 percent.”
Djokovic is very confident for his quarter-final matchup on Friday afternoon and is hopeful of fixing his serve accuracy in the next encounter.
“But I believe that tomorrow the serve will be better. It's important to have the right mindset and positive attitude. I don't think that my rhythm is bad, it's just a little bit my toss and I'm out of balance on my serve and I'm
forcing it a little bit too much”
The Serb will take on the world number eight, Gael Monfils of France in the quarter-final draws of Cincinnati Masters on Friday for a place in the semis.
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