Serbia’s Novak Djokovic got past American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance to the third round of the Italian Open but not before the globe No. 1 had lost his cool against the chair umpire for not suspending the match due to rain.
“How much does one wanna play? I asked you 3 times, you’re not checking anything,” the 33-year-old shouted at umpire Nacho Forcadell on Tuesday.
Forcadell finally relented and also the players were sent off the court at 5-5 within the second set. once they returned three hours later, Djokovic won the set 7-6(5).
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic got past American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance to the third round of the Italian Open but not before the globe No. 1 had lost his cool against the chair umpire for not suspending the match due to rain.
“How much does one wanna play?
I asked you 3 times, you’re not checking anything,” the 33-year-old shouted at umpire Nacho Forcadell on Tuesday.
Forcadell finally relented and therefore the players were sent off the court at 5-5 within the second set. once they returned three hours later, Djokovic won the set 7-6(5).
Djokovic and Fritz’s most up-to-date encounter was a five-set battle within the third round of the Australian Open, but this point Djokovic came out sharp. The Serbian broke Fritz’s first service game and made 70 percent of his first serves within the opening set to comfortably close it out.
“It was a really strange match with strange conditions. Obviously, playing under the rain non-stop for nearly two full sets, it’s challenging for both me and him,” said Djokovic.
The second set began in nearly identical fashion with Djokovic breaking within the first game to determine early dominance. the planet No. 1 had to intensify his level to save lots of two break points at 4-3, on the other hand, Fritz went for broke on Djokovic’s next service game at 5-4 and was rewarded for it by evening out the match.
After already playing most of the match in rainy conditions, the play was stopped at 5-5.
When they returned to the court, both players held serve comfortably and Djokovic closed out the win on his first point within the tie-break.
“I quite kept the match under my control for many a part of the 2 sets, then served for the match; very sloppy service game,” Djokovic said. “He played well, made an excellent return to return back. I used to be stressed within the end obviously, but I feel it had been the proper call to prevent the match.”
Djokovic improves to 4-0 in his ATP head-to-head against Fritz as he looks to defend his crown in Rome where he’s 56-9 with five titles.
