Novak Djokovic, world number 1, went to the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters 1000 after defeating the Dutchman Tallon Greek track (23rd) by 4-6, 7-6 (2), and 6-4. In the next round, the Serbian will face the winner of the duel between Holger Rune and Daniel Altmaier.
The game in the Balkans goes from small to large. With some flashes of his quality but not finding his best version, he knows how to keep the game going despite the high level shown by Griekspoor
As expected, Djokovic started the match dominating without any problems, and in the blink of an eye, he was ahead 4-1. However, from that moment on, he fell into a strange fall from which he could not get out, also due to the growth of Griekspoor. The Dutchman escaped, taking advantage of World No. 1’s cataract of errors, and turned the situation around to take the first set.
Perhaps one of the keys to Belgrade’s victory was 4-4 in the second set. After serving 15–40, he was able to connect three good services to get out of more than a compromised situation.
Later, in the tiebreak, Nole was the stronger of the two, and he took it with no problem by a landslide of 7 to 2.
In the third quarter, the same tone of the game was maintained. Although Djokovic quickly took the advantage, he did not show his best version and left his serve with a double fault at 4-3.
As a result of that mistake, Balkan had repeated presentations that included ironic applause from World No. 1, an indication of his discomfort in front of the Dutchman.
However, with a strong closing, he was able to break and hold serve to advance to the next round. There he will wait for the winners of the tug of war, Holger Rune and Daniel Altmaier.
If the opponent is the Dane, the 2022 final will be a repeat of what the Serbian lost in three sets.
All the action in Paris can be seen on ESPN and STAR+.
