The Serbian has once again brought out his best version. Djokovic gave Rublev no options (6-1, 6-2, 6-4) and almost without physical wear and tear, he stands in the semifinals, where he will face the American Tommy Paul.
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The last duel of the quarterfinals in the men’s draw Open Australia 2023 in front Djokovic only Rublev. The Serbian had just put on a real display of tennis against De Miñaur. Waiting ahead was Rublev, who was on the edge and managed to save two match points against Rune. In the three previous meetings, Djokovic won two and Rublev won one. The Serbian was again a heavy favorite but it remained to be seen how his left leg, which he had tied up in all the matches of the first Grand Slam of the season, is doing.
Djokovic shines again
It was very windy at Rod Laver Arena which hurt the players. Djokovic started with a double fault but recovered in his first game. From that moment on, the Serb began to dictate his law by making few mistakes and betraying Rublev, who made too many mistakes with both forehand and backhand. The Russian did not hit the key and the games fell again and again to Djokovic, who was better in the important moments of the game. After a double break, he went 5-1 and held the opener to close out the first set. After saving two breaking balls against it, he didn’t capitalize Djokovic won the first set 6-1 in 40 minutes.
In the second quarter, Rublev began to dominate the goal. Nole was spotted wanting to accept another hard correction on his rival on the scoreboard. The Russian held until 2-2, but from that moment Djokovic took another step forward. After the break, he went up 3-2, and despite having two break points, Rublev was unable to hit a single one. Djokovic survived until 4-2. The final blow came in the seventh game and it’s that Djokovic barely made any unforced errors against Andrey, who didn’t know where to attack the Serb. At 5-2, Ivanisevic’s student ended the second set. It was tough for him as he had to save a break point and needed five sets to reach the second round as well and stay closer to the semi-finals.
Rublev has no choice
In the third set, Djokovic struck again at the beginning of the match and went 2-0. It was clear to the Serb that due to the law of minimum effort, he wanted to close out the match as soon as possible. Rublev still didn’t know what to do before the tennis player showed why he is the player with the most titles at the Australian Open. Djokovic didn’t give up a single break point throughout the set and was very solid on his serves. Andrey needed at least a break to hopefully stay in the game, but didn’t get it Djokovic 6-4 sealed the game in just over two hours and he is just two wins away from dominating again at the Australian Open.
