Djokovic downs Dimitrov to advance
Date published :
13 Mar 2013 - 00:17:00
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic survived a rocky start to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 on Tuesday and reach the fourth round of the Indian Wells ATP Masters and WTA tournament.
Djokovic, unbeaten in a 2013 campaign that so far includes a fourth Australian Open title and an ATP triumph in Dubai, was on the ropes in the opening set against the 21-year-old Bulgarian, who raced to a 4-1 lead and served for the set at 5-3.
But Dimitrov served up four double faults in the ninth game and was broken, and that was the only opening that Djokovic needed.
The Serbian star battled back to win in 67 minutes. He raced to a 5-0 lead en route to winning the first-set tiebreaker and didn't face a break point in the second frame.
Djokovic wrapped it up with a love game, sealing the victory with a service winner on match point.
"It was not really a beautiful match to watch," Djokovic said. "There were a lot of unforced errors, and we both looked quite sluggish on the court, very slow.
"In these kind of matches, where both of us don't feel so dynamic on the court, I knew that experience will kick in and can be decisive.
"That's actually what happened. He made four double faults which is very unusual to see in men's tennis nowadays, but, look, that's tennis. Turned it around, and from then on I felt a little bit better."
Djokovic improved to 15-0 in 2013 and 20-0 since October 31 -- when he lost to American Sam Querrey in the Paris Masters.
He'll get a chance to avenge that defeat in a fourth-round meeting with Querrey, who edged Australian Marinko Matosevic 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (7/9), 7-5.
