Basel, Switzerland: World number three Novak Djokovic whitewashed hapless Czech Jan Hernych 6-0 6-0 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors.
Djokovic, attempting to win his fourth ATP tournament of the season, was almost apologetic after needing only 52 minutes to dispatch the world number 59.
“It’s hard to talk about a 6-0 6-0 result,” said Djokovic. “The win is what counts. He didn’t play very well today, actually, he made a lot of unforced errors and didn’t put any pressure on me so I just kind of cruised through the match.
“I think I’m in quite good shape. I feel physically and mentally quite good on the court. I didn’t play perfect tennis today; I needed his unforced errors as well. I think his level of performance was very low today.”
Djokovic’s quarter-final opponent will be Switzerland’s number two Stanislas Wawrinka who had a much tougher time to beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 7-5 2-6 6-1.
In the day’s most dramatic match, fourth seed Marin Cilic saved three match points in the third set tiebreak before defeating Viktor Troicki 7-6 6-7 7-6 in just over three hours.
Frenchman Richard Gasquet also saved two match points in the second-set tiebreak before rallying to edge American John Isner 4-6 7-6 6-2.
Swiss wildcard Marco Chiudinelli reached the second ATP quarter-final of his career as he defeated compatriot and qualifier Michael Lammer 2-6 6-3 6-3.
Bartoli joins Rezai in semifinal
DENPASAR, Indonesia: Top seed Marion Bartoli joined French compatriot Aravane Rezai in the semi-finals of the Bali Tournament of Champions with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Shahar Peer of Israel yesterday.
Bartoli completed the weekend line-up at the 600,000-dollar tournament comprising the 10 highest-ranking players who have won a WTA International title this year but who did not compete in the season-ending WTA Championships in Qatar, which finished on Sunday. Two wildcards were also included.
Today’s line-up will pit Bartoli against Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm, while Rezai faces Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Rezai, with a perfect 2-0 group record like Bartoli’s, on Thursday was the first to reach the final four at this resort island.
Date Krumm earned a place earlier Friday when Belgian Yanina Wickmayer quit on news of her one-year ban for missing doping tests.
Wickmayer, the world number 18, was suspended on Thursday by the Flemish Doping Tribunal (VDT) for failing three times to fulfill the controversial “whereabouts rule.” - Reuters |
