“All in all, a great performance,” declared the world No. 1 after winning his 32nd consecutive Australian Open match Sunday in emphatic fashion.
Novak Djokovic has now won a remarkable 58 matches from 63 contested in the fourth round of Grand Slam events, equaling Roger Federer’s record for major quarterfinal appearances.
On Sunday, the world No. 1 matched his most emphatic victory in that stage of a major to move within three wins of an all-time record-breaking 25th major title. Returning to Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic overwhelmed No. 20 seed Adrian Mannarino, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3.
“All in all, a great performance,” Djokovic assessed in his on-court interview with Jim Courier.
The three games dropped matched his fewest in a fourth-round major match—at the 2013 US Open against Marcel Granollers. That performance was also the last time Djokovic had won two different 6-0 sets during a Grand Slam encounter, having blitzed Granollers, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.
Against Mannarino, Djokovic began with his second most dominant start in a major match when he won the first 13 games. It fell just one game short of his memorable Grand Slam debut when he won the first 15 games over Robby Ginepri in a 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 victory at 2005 Roland Garros as an 18-year-old.
Mannarino came into this contest taxed, having survived a trio of five-setters that included a five-set comeback over No. 16 seed Ben Shelton. Little did the left-hander know by not converting either of the two break points held in the opening game—thanks to Djokovic serving himself out of trouble in trademark style—that it would ignite a depressing run of 0s on the scoreboard as the Serbian wore him down.
After Mannarino was double bageled in the first two sets, he chuckled towards his camp and held two zeros up to his eyes. The 35-year-old’s sense of humor returned when he finally held in his opening service game of the third set to roaring applause.
“You know I really wanted to lose that game in the third set because the tension was building up so much in the stadium,” Djokovic joked to laughs. “I just needed to get that one out of the way so I could focus on what I wanted to do to close out the match.”
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Djokovic fired 17 aces and finished with more than double the winners to unforced errors in what was his best display of the tournament thus far. One final love hold capped the routine one-hour-and-44 minute win. Fifty-four percent of his first serves were not returned in play.
“Never easy to play Adrian, who’s a very unorthodox player. It’s kind of cat and mouse,” Djokovic said. “I had to in a way physically endure the long rallies and try to run him around the court, which I did. I served very well… in the moments when I needed to come up with a first serve, I did.”
Should Djokovic win his next match over the winner of Stefanos Tsitsipas—the man he beat in last year’s final—and Taylor Fritz, the Belgrade native will be an incredibly tough out. He’s 20-0 at Melbourne Park once reaching the semifinals. Djokovic has also won his past 32 Australian Open matches.
