Novak Djokovic triumphs over Tommy Haas in quarters – French Open 2013
Top seed Novak Djokovic dumped the former world number two Tommy Haas in straight sets at the Roland Garros 2013 on Wednesday.
He recorded a 6-3, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory against the German veteran to progress into the semi-finals at this second of the four Grand Slam events taking place in Paris, France.
The Serbian ace showed tremendous tennis skills to edge past the evergreen Haas in their 10th meeting. The contenders previously battled each other at the Sony Open Tennis in Miami and after stealing the spotlight, Djokovic extended his lead in the head-to-head
series by 7-3 against the German.
In the opening few games, both contestants played carefully and held their respective serves. After the 35-year-old held his serve in the fifth game, Djokovic unleashed barrage of groundstrokes and reeled off four games. As a result, the Serb clinched the
opener with a 6-3 score line.
The 26-year-old maintained consistency in his game in the next set. He swiftly kept his entire serves but failed to get the breakthrough. The set went to a tie-breaker where Djokovic edged past the 12th seed and sealed the set with a 7-6(5) win.
The world number one, Djokovic kept momentum rolling in the third set. He got the coveted break in the third game and took the initial lead. The Serb lost his edge in the very next game but broke again, subsequently taking a 5-3 lead. Despite losing his
serve in the 10th game, the Belgrade native got the breakthrough in the following game and pocketed the set with a 7-5 success.
Next up for Djokovic is the seven-time Roland Garros Champion, Rafael Nadal. The Serb reflected about his next match-up, saying, “Now I have a big challenge in front of me, and I'm ready for it. I have been playing well. I know that this is the biggest challenge
for me in Roland Garros, no question about it, and I'm sure that it's going to be quite a good match. I need that necessary intensity from the start. I need to be willing to play on top of my game throughout the whole match, because that's what it's going
to take to win against him. It's the small details and a few points that can decide a winner.”
The King of clay, Nadal breezed past the ninth seed, Stanislas Wawrinka, with a breadstick to set-up this blockbuster semi-final meeting.
Djokovic currently trails in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 15-19 against the former world number one. However, he conquered Nadal in their last battle at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters earlier this season.
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