NOVAK DJOKOVIC PUSHED AGAIN IN ROME

Written by: Staff on 14th May 2015

NOVAK DJOKOVIC PUSHED AGAIN IN ROME

epa04748577 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil during their third round match for the Italian Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, 14 May 2015. EPA/ALESSANDRO DI MEO |

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic battled from a set deficit to beat Thomaz Bellucci 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, extending his match win streak to 19.

The top seed and defending champion, who hoisted the trophy at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in 2008 (d. Wawrinka), 2011 (d. Nadal) and 2014 (d. Nadal), will face fifth seed Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.

Djokovic, who also needed three sets to beat Nicolas Almagro in the second round, is looking to win his 24th Masters 1000 title, which would surpass Roger Federer(23) and be three short of Rafael Nadal (27).

As actor Owen Wilson watched from the crowd, Bellucci capitalised on his first break point opportunity to take a 6-5 lead in the first set. The second set was more to Djokovic’s liking, as he got an early break to go up 3-1 after Bellucci sent an overhead smash into the net.

Actor Owen Wilson (C) watches the match Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their third round match for the Italian Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, 14 May 2015. EPA/ALESSANDRO DI MEO

Sixth game of the eventual decider, Bellucci dug himself out of a 0-40 hole, but Djokovic went on to break for a 4-2 lead. The resilient Brazilian broke back, only for the Serb to eventually sink his teeth in again, break and serve out the match after exactly two hours.

Djokovic survived 27 winners from his opponent, while winning 13 of 14 points at net. Bellucci was 0/8 for points at net and also notched 35 unforced errors.

Nishikori beat Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3 to book his spot in the last eight, fighting hard to capitalise on four of his 12 break point chances in the 89-minute match.

The quarter-final berth marks Nishikori’s best result in just his second main draw appearance in Rome. He reached the second round in his one previous visit in 2013 (l. to Chardy).

It will be the sixth meeting between Djokovic and Nishikori. The Serb leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-2. Nishikori got the better of Djokovic at last year’s US Open as he advanced to his first Grand Slam final, but Djokovic won their two most recent meetings in Paris and at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil during their third round match for the Italian Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, 14 May 2015. EPA/ALESSANDRO DI MEO

( Courtesy of the ATP and original link - http://m.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/05/19/Rome-Thursday-Djokovic-Bellucci-Nishikori-Troicki.aspx )

Topics: Atp World Tour, Internazionali BNL D'Italia, Novak Djokovic, Rome tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

May 14, 2015 at 5:30 pm

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