Novak Djokovic Gets First Clay Court Test from Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Monte-Carlo

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Novak Djokovic Gets First Clay Court Test from Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Monte-Carlo

In a match that many thought would be the most one-sided of all four Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarterfinals on Friday, Novak Djokovic was given a good, old-fashioned scare from a very in-form Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (see an utterly ridiculous point that the two played Friday evening, above).

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The 30-year-old Spaniard has been playing some of the best ball of his life, and he entered his second career Masters 1000 quarterfinal with a ton of confidence after winning the Casablanca title last week and taking out Alexandr Dolgopolov and Tomas Berdych in back-to-back matches earlier in the week.

But Djokovic, though in danger of going down a set and a break, batted back three break chances during hotly contested games at 2-2 and 3-3 in the second set, and eventually took control of the match to rack up his 13th consecutive victory, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

In Djokovic's sixth career victory against Garcia-Lopez in six career battles, it took every ounce of patience, determination and shotmaking that the Serb possessed. He need to use it all, particularly in the second set, when the Spaniard was red-lining his game and Djokovic was really battling to weather the storm.

After racing through his first two opponents with only the loss of two games, a testy battle might be just what the Serb needed to prepare him for the challenge of facing Roger Federer on Saturday.

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The Serb advances into his sixth consecutive semifinal in Monte-Carlo, and will attempt to become the fifth player to successfully defend the Monte-Carlo title this weekend.

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