By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, November 5, 2015
In a wild match with 12 service breaks, Novak Djokovic subdued Gilles Simon, 6-3, 7-5, to score his 19th straight win at the BNP Paribas Masters Paris.
Photo credit: AP Photo
A third-round match in Paris resembled a search and rescue mission for Novak Djokovic.
The world No. 1 lost leads, surrendered serve five times and brain-cramped hitting some unsightly drop shots against Gilles Simon.
Though his best tennis eluded him, victory did not.
More: Super Serena Foils Phone Theft
Djokovic withstood some sloppy shot-making, a tricky opponent and a topsy-turvy serving display to stretch his winning streak to 19 matches with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Simon at the BNP Paribas Masters Paris.
Second-seeded Andy Murray sent a stern message ahead of this month's Davis Cup final against Belgium. Murray destroyed Belgian No. 1 David Goffin, 6-1, 6-0, in just 53 minutes. Murray meets Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals tomorrow. The 10th-seeded Frenchman held a 7-6 (3), 4-1 lead over Kei Nishikori when the sixth-seeded Japanese retired.
Djokovic will play either fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych or ninth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a semifinal spot.
The defending champion has won 26 straight sets—the longest sets winning streak of his career—including an adventure of a second set today where both men continuously spit up serve.
The pair combined for 12 service breaks today, including an eye-popping seven straight breaks to start the second set today.
Djokovic won't be pleased with his inability to back up the breaks, a lowly 39 percent second-serve points won or the times he telegraphed his intentions with some overzealous drop shots. He should be satisfied by the fact he didn't play his best tennis, but kept calm and extended his winning streak.
The two-handed backhand that is typically rock-sailed sailed as Djokovic faced the first break point of the match. When the world No. 1's lunge volley sat up, Simon swooped in and plastered a forehand pass breaking for 2-1.
Answering with a forehand pass of his own, Djokovic earned his first break point in the next game. He erased the lead on a Simon error leveling at 2-all. Locking down the baseline and denying the slender Frenchman open-court opportunities, Djokovic squeezed another forehand error from Simon, breaking at 15 for 4-2.
Serving for the set, Djokovic opened with an ace. The top seed zapped a service winner out wide, sealing a one-set lead after 34 minutes and drawing applause from coach Boris Becker in the process.
Ratcheting up the pressure, Djokovic targeted Simon's forehand coaxing a wide error from that side to break in the opening game of the second set. At that point, Djokovic seemed on track against an opponent he had beaten eight times in a row.
The pesky Simon lacks the finishing power to truly threaten Djokovic, but he hung tough in baseline rallies to break back.That launched the break-fest pattern that continued for much of the set.
When the 10-time Grand Slam champion built a lead he struggled to string points together to extend it only to see Simon break right back. Djokovic scored the seventh straight break of set for a 4-3 lead.
When Djokovic steered a backhand down the line wide, Simon had break point for an eighth straight break. Djokovic denied it. Simon sent a forehand return well beyond the baseline as Djokovic finally put a halt to the service break streak holding for 5-3.
Serving for match, a lunging Djokovic netted a stretch backhand to face a second break point. The unsettled Serbian put a rally forehand into the tape as Simon scored his fourth break of the set for 5-5. French fans, who were a bit muted, or perhaps perplexed by continuing breaks, roared in approval.
During this winning streak, Djokovic has seldom shown too many signs of stress. He put his head down, applied more topspin to his forehand and grinded his opponent down securing his seventh service break of the match for a 6-5 lead after 93 minutes. An inside-out forehand brought an end to an adventure of a match.
It was Djokovic's ninth straight win over Simon. He raised his record to 75-5 on the season as he continues his quest for a sixth Masters crown this season.