Novak Djokovic cruised to the US Open quarterfinals with a comprehensive victory against Jan-Lennard Struff on Sunday night. The Serbian registered a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win to reach his record-extending 64th Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The 24-time Slam champion tipped it as his best win of the tournament as he won in straight sets. Djokovic raced to a 4-0 lead after breaking the German twice but could not hold his serve in the fifth game of the opening set after suffering a bit of trouble in his neck.
However, Djokovic was able to get the job done as he delivered a dominant performance. At 38 years old, Djokovic is the oldest player to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Jimmy Connors.
“What gives me a lot of encouragement right now, and positivity, is the way I played tonight,” Djokovic said. “Best performance of the tournament so far. Hopefully I can keep that going.”
Djokovic will next take on the previous edition’s runners-up, Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, and he expects the American to try something else as he holds a 10-0 record against him.
“I expect players that never won against me to come out on the court and try something different and try to make me feel maybe uncomfortable and play more aggressive, or not, whatever,” Djokovic said. “I don’t think there’s going to be any major changes with Taylor, because, obviously, you stick to the kind of a game plan that got you to the quarters, and you know what your strengths are … which for him obviously is serve and forehand.”
Taylor Fritz, on the other hand, admitted he didn’t fancy his chance against Djokovic earlier, but things are different now.
“The thing is, I think it’s spanned over so many years. The first almost seven or eight times I played him, I probably just wasn’t a good enough player to really have that much of a chance unless I have the best day ever and he has a bad day,” Fritz said. “Only the last couple times we’ve played, I think, I’ve been this just better player that can, I’d say, compete and have chances.”
Djokovic will face Fritz on Tuesday.
