Djokovic tied Nadal, the reigning champion who was eliminated earlier this week, by making it to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the fifteenth time.
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The first set of the match between Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov was the highlight of Saturday night’s sky, and it was the veteran Australian Open champion who won it as route to a brutal 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-4 victory against his close friend in Melbourne. Djokovic now has a record of 10-1 versus the Bulgarian, who could regret the three set points he missed in the opening game. In spite of this, Djokovic played the three points incredibly well. Djokovic’s left hamstring strain continued to dominate pre-match discussion, especially after he needed a medical timeout against qualifier Enzo Couacaud in the second round and expressed concern about it thereafter. He stated on Thursday that there were only two options: “Leave it or keep going.” “I will continue hence. Naturally, a great player like Dimitrov will be someone I try to play against and compete against.”
Of course, Dimitrov is a player who is used to having his opponents work hard for extended periods of time. In 2017, the 27th seed advanced to one of his three major semifinals in Melbourne and, there, outlasted Rafael Nadal for four hours, 56 minutes. Roger Federer and Andy Murray are just two of the top tennis players who Dimitrov has defeated in notable matches in the past. After defeating Aslan Karatsev in the first round, he defeated another Serb, Laslo Djere, in the following round. In 2021, Karatsev unexpectedly advanced to the semifinals and upset Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.
Once more, Djokovic wore hamstring strapping, but this round it was little more concealed by his shorts. He wasn’t constantly sprinting all out into the corners. Dimitrov had the worst possible start, being broken right away. Similar to previous encounters, Djokovic used a strong backhand to Dimitrov to either force an error or open up a rally in his favour. He frequently penetrated his opponent’s service games, and in the sixth game, he also unleashed a scorching forehand winner that went around the net post. At 3-5, Dimitrov held on and forced a change of momentum by saving three set points. At 5-4, Djokovic gave up serve after never having faced a break point before as Dimitrov made three ines. At 5-6, Djokovic then saved two set points via an ace and body serve. Riding the momentum, he won the tiebreak 5-2.
However, he was horrified when he lost a 28-shot rally to fall behind 4-1 in the third and double flubbed the following point to lose serve. In the final game, Djokovic and Dimitrov energised the fans by winning a 31-shot rally. The three hours, seven minutes-long match came to an end when Dimitrov’s forehand went wide on the following point. Dimitrov recorded 53 victories but also committed 50 unintentional errors. In the meantime, Djokovic tied Nadal, the reigning champion who was eliminated earlier this week, by making it to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the fifteenth time. Only Federer has participated in the men’s game 18 times more in the Open era, which began in 1968.
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