DJOKOVIC GOES DOWN IN CINCINNATI, FEDERER AND MURRAY AVOID UPSET BUG BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 14th August 2014

DJOKOVIC GOES DOWN IN CINCINNATI, FEDERER AND MURRAY AVOID UPSET BUG BY RICKY DIMON

epa04351224 Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts to a call by a linesman in his first round match against Gilles Simon of France in the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament at the Linder Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, USA, 12 August 2014. EPA/TANNEN MAURY |

Novak Djokovic’s hard-court struggles continued on Thursday with a 7-6(6), 7-5 loss to Tommy Robredo in the third round of the Western & Southern Open. Djokovic is now a modest 2-2 since winning Wimbledon, having previously lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the same stage of last week’s Rogers Cup.

“Just many, many, many things are not clicking these two weeks on hard courts,” the world No. 1 admitted. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s more than obvious I’m not playing even close to what I’m supposed to play. I have to keep on working and trying to get better for (the) U.S.Open.”

Andy Murray nearly preceded Djokovic on the fast track to New York for the season’s final Grand Slam, but he managed to save two match points in a 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-6(2) win over John Isner.

A back-and-forth affair saw Murray lead 3-1 in the opening tiebreaker only to lose six consecutive points. The Scot bounced back immediately to break Isner right away in the second for a 1-0 lead and he consolidated it the whole way. Isner had two chances to finish the job with a break in the 12th game of the final set, but he netted a volley on one match point and missed a backhand on the second. Murray promptly dominated the ensuing tiebreaker seven points to two.

Roger Federer also needed three sets to book his spot in what will be a blockbuster quarterfinal showdown against Murray on Friday night. Federer held off Gael Monfils 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 48 minutes of entertaining tennis.

Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return shot to Gael Monfils of France in their third round match of the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament at the Linder Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, USA, 14 August 2014. EPA/TANNEN MAURY

“I’m just happy the way I’m playing right now,” the 17-time major champion assured. “I was hitting good forehands; not making so many mistakes. Returning better. So there was a lot of positives out in the match today. I felt I lost opportunities in the second to close him out, but he hung tough and stayed in the match; so a big credit to him for a good spell there. I was able to pick it up a little bit again in the third, so I’m really happy with the match. ”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, Cincinnati, Federer, Gael Monfils, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, Tennis News, Tommy Robredo, Western & Southern Open

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10sBalls_com says:

August 14, 2014 at 11:45 pm

@DjokerNole GOES DOWN IN #CINCINNATI, @rogerfederer AND @andy_murray AVOID UPSET BUG BY @RD_Tennistalk- http://t.co/zf40eO6Soa #tennis