By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 11, 2017
Novak Djokovic broke in the final game of both sets beating Feliciano Lopez to set up a Madrid quarterfinal with Kei Nishikori.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
Streaking forward, Novak Djokovic caught up to the drop shot sliding into a soft-angled answer that left a bemused Feliciano Lopez applauding the second-seed’s speed and slick racquet skills.
An energized Djokovic broke serve in the final game of both sets bursting by Lopez, 6-4, 7-5, into the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals for the seventh time.
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Lopez lives in Madrid and is the only man to appear in all 16 Mutua Madrid Opens, but Djokovic displaced him with superb movement, timely strikes and baseline precision in a quality match from both men.
"(The) level was definitely very high today I thought from both players," Djokovic said. "I think Feliciano played really well, especially in the second set. I wasn't winning too many points on his service games until the last one where I managed to return many balls back in play and then win the match.
"One break was enough, 5-4, 6-5, both sets. But, as I said, it was quite a solid performance from both players, high quality. I was enjoying very much."
The defending champion saved the only break point he faced in the opening game of the second set scoring his seventh straight victory in the Spanish capital city.
A tidy win sends Djokovic into the quarterfinals against Kei Nishikori, who denied David Ferrer his 700th career victory with a clinical 6-4, 6-3, conquest that spanned 85 minutes.
Asked about the state of his creaky right wrist, which forced him out of Barcelona, Nishikori offered a mixed message.
“It's been feeling good, better than I expected,” Nishikori told the media in Madrid. “I'm happy with my physical condition. I don't know how much, you know, I can play, how much this wrist going to hold for couple more matches. I don't know. But I try to see every day. But, yeah, today it's okay. Hopefully getting better and better.”
The 2014 US Open finalist’s losing streak vs. Djokovic has been growing longer and longer.
Since Nishikori toppled Djokovic in the US Open semifinals three years ago, the Serbian has waged an on-court vendetta reeling off 10 consecutive victories, including a 6-1, 6-1 thrashing in the semifinals of ATP World Tour Finals last fall.
“Novak is someone that I don't have good record (against),” Nishikori said. “He's a great player, very solid, everything. Doesn't have much weakness.”
The 35-year-old Lopez understands those sentiments.
Tormenting Lopez’s weaker one-handed backhand wing, Djokovic carried an 8-1 career record against the Spaniard onto court.
In the sixth game, Djokovic drilled a deep return rattling an error to earn the first break point 20 minutes into the match. Lopez snuffed it out, lashing a forehand winner and a biting serve to level.
A lapse of judgement cost Lopez the break and the opening set.
Serving at 4-5, 30-all, Lopez had the ball on his favored forehand side. Rather than driving a response, he flipped a poor drop shot. Djokovic swooped forward and spun a backhand down the line for set point. Lopez saved it with a forehand winner.
During a baseline exchange, Djokovic, believing a Lopez shot may have strayed long, paused for a moment to look down at the mark then refocused on the ball pushing back an off-pace forehand. Lopez, apparently thinking Djokovic was challenging the prior shot, stopped play and lost the point to face set point.
Lopez briefly questioned chair umpire Damien Dumusois, who replied: “He looked at the mark and did not say anything.”
With that, Djokovic walked to the chair and confessed to Dumusois: “I stopped.”
“You stopped and you didn’t ask anything—that’s my point to you,” Dumusois said.
That indecision cost Lopez, who sent a forehand long on the next point to drop the set.
Predominantly playing the slice, Lopez hit the drop shot effectively at times to drag his opponent forward, but Djokovic drained errors or shot balls from the Spaniard’s one-handed backhand as well.
Earning his first break point to start the second set, Lopez put a backhand into the bottom of the net as Djokovic won a 23-shot rally to save it and eventually hold.
Neither man was stressed on serve for much of the set.
Curling a running forehand winner, Lopez issued a love hold for 3-all. By then, the left-hander with the smooth service motion had won 12 of 13 points played on his serve in the second set.
A flat-footed Djokovic pushed a forehand long to go down 0-30 in the 11th game.
Two points later, Lopez tested the second seed with a fine drop shot. A speedy Djokovic slid into an elegant angled reply for 30-all and celebrated with a massive uppercut in the air. Lopez smiled and applauded, but couldn’t shake off the impact of the shot.
Showing more emotion in this game than he had for much of the match, Djokovic endured a time violation warning to work through a tricky hold for 5-6.
After a near-flawless serving display, Lopez watch a bullet return speed past him to fall into a triple-match point hole. He saved the first but netted an inside-out forehand as Djokovic completed a 93-minute victory raising his record to 16-4 on the season.
Lopez believes if Djokovic can string some wins together, he will regain his confidence and form.
"I think we have to understand that to be up there with all of the pressure, stepping onto the court with the obligation to win, there might come a moment where the level won't be the same always," Lopez said. "It's very difficult to keep up that level. I think today he played, again, really good, really solid, serving very good, as I said, without ups and downs, very consistent. At the end victories in matches is what gives you confidence. I think he's gaining his confidence again.
"I think if he continues playing as he's been playing today and winning matches, it'slogical we're going to see the same Djokovic as we're used to seeing."
David Goffin broke serve four times carving up fifth-seeded Milos Raonic, 6-4, 6-2. The 10th-ranked Belgian surged into his second straight Masters quarterfinal where he will meet either four-time champion Rafael Nadal, who swept Goffin in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters semifinals last month, or 20th-ranked Nick Kyrgios, who defeated Goffin in the Miami Open in March.