Novak Djokovic this season, he is mainly focusing on grandslam tournaments and, despite his advanced age, is still dominating the big four events. After his 10th triumph at the Australian Open and another first at the French Open, he became the male record holder with 23 titles and is the only one in history to have won all the majors at least three times. He recorded the only failure in the final five-set battle at Wimbledon with his current greatest rival, Carlos Alcaraz.
He has another chance to equal Margaret Court’s absolute record in the number of Grand Slam trophies at the US Open, where last year he could not start due to his rejection of the Covid vaccine, and the year before that he was the only win away from completing the calendar Grand Slam. He is still undefeated in the ongoing American concrete season, he returned the defeat to Alcaraz in the finals at the Masters in Cincinnati and with his 95th laurel he approached the goal of 100 titles.
Statistics of the match Fritz – Djokovic
At the US Open, he managed four out of five matches without losing a set. The only exception is the turnaround from 0:2 against compatriot Lasl Djere in the third round, to whom, however, he allowed only five games in the last three acts. He scored an important and especially quick victory on Tuesday against the home team Taylor Fritz. The organizers at least partially covered the roof for the actors so that they did not have to play in direct sunlight, and Djokovic stayed on the court in more than 30 degrees heat and high humidity for only two hours and 38 minutes.
This is mainly due to his great success on break points. The Serbian favorite turned away 10 of 12 threats and took advantage of six of the nine chances he created during the match. It was not easy for him to reach the winning end of the match, the American made an excellent return and in all the last three games on the receiving end he always had at least one break point. At 4:3 and 40:40, Djokovic was thrown by a fan’s scream after a great serve and he lost the game in the end. However, Fritz subsequently took the serve again and closed the duel despite another complication in the form of a break point.
Taylor Fritz earns a break of serve
This third set is TIGHT. pic.twitter.com/Ln7xJJaSSy
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2023
Fritz made it into the top eight at the US Open for the first time and absolutely superbly. He did not allow a set to any opponent, including Jakub Menšík, and won 49 out of 50 games on his own serve. However, against Djokovic, who is considered by many to be the best return player of all time, he hit hard in difficult conditions and served six times. He didn’t even defend it once in the opening set.
HISTORIC❗
@DjokerNole has become the first man in ATP rankings history to record 250 career wins over Top 10 players after his victory over #9-ranked Fritz at the #USOpen today.
250: Novak Djokovic
224: Roger Federer
186: Rafael Nadal
166: Ivan Lendl
128: John McEnroe— TENNIS (@Tennis) September 5, 2023
Djokovic improved several respectable series with his victory over Fritz, for whom he found the recipe even in the eighth encounter and the seventh without losing a set. He has already won 30 matches in a row with the Americans (the last time he was not enough against Sam Querrey in Wimbledon 2016) and he managed his 13th quarter-final at the US Open as well as his 12th duel with the home representative at this venue.
In addition, he advanced to a record 47th Grand Slam semifinal, breaking away from Roger Federer in that stat and scored his 250th TOP 10 scalp. For the sixth time in his career, he will play in the semifinals at all Grand Slams in the season, which is a new open era record. Until now, he was tied for first place with Federer.
Most Grand Slam Semi-Finals:
#1 DJOKOVIC 47
#2 Federer 46
#3 Nadal 38Overtake. pic.twitter.com/8MqYGvROIw
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) September 5, 2023
On Friday, he will attack for his 10th final at Flushing Meadows. The three-time champion, who secured his return to the world number one position after advancing to the second round, has a record of 35:11 in the semi-finals of Grand Slams. He registered eight of the 11 failures in this phase before the start of the 2013 season. Since then, he has dominated the majors.
In Friday’s semi-final, he will face the home team for the first time By Ben Sheltonwhich he won in the night quarterfinals derby with Frances Tiafeo and advanced to the semi-finals for the first time on the main circuit.
The other semifinalists will be decided on Wednesday. The defending champion and still the leader of the rankings Carlos Alcaraz will compete with Alexander Zverev, and even before that, the previous year’s champion Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev will face each other in the Russian derby.
• US OPEN 2023 •
USA / New York, tv. surface, $65,000,020
Tuesday’s results (September 5, 2023)
• Singles – quarterfinals •
Djokovic (2-Serb.) – Fritz (9-USA) 6:1, 6:4, 6:4 Shelton (USA) – Tiafoe (10-USA) 6:2, 3:6, 7:6, 6: 2
Article originally published for Livesport News.
2023-09-05 21:08:39
#Djokovic #quarterfinals #Open #thirteenth #won #eighth #match #Fritz #beat #Federer
