Djokovic, Murray rally into last 8
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NOVAK Djokovic smacked his racket on the court after losing serve, seemingly headed for another unexplainable loss at a tournament that has eluded him. In the end, he stopped fuming and started playing like the best.
The top-ranked Serb rallied from a 0-3 deficit in the final set to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory over David Goffin on Thursday, reaching the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open.
Third-seeded Andy Murray also needed a late surge. He recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the third set, survived a match point, and pulled out a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory over Grigor Dimitrov in a match that lasted 2 hours, 58 minutes.
Serena Williams moved on to the quarterfinals as well, losing only two games in her lopsided match. She’s the tournament’s defending champion.
Djokovic has never won Cincinnati. He’s trying to become the first player to win all nine ATP Masters events in a career.
“It was a solid first set, but whatever happened in the next 45 minutes — I don’t want to remember it,” Djokovic said. “I wasn’t on the court. You know, I just lost the intensity and concentration. Luckily for me, I managed to bounce back.”
With things falling apart in the second set, Djokovic slammed his racket three times, drawing a warning. And it kept getting worse against Goffin, a 24-year-old Belgian who is 1-20 against top-10 players. Finally, Djokovic pulled himself together and pulled it out.
Djokovic will face fifth-seeded Stan Wawrinka, who beat him for the French Open title. The Swiss pulled out a 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win after Croat Ivo Karlovic double-faulted on match point.
Murray beat Djokovic to win the title in Montreal on Sunday. He’ll play Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals as he tries to become the seventh man to win Montreal and Cincinnati back-to-back.
Eighth-seeded Rafael Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (3). Nadal, coming off a rain-delayed match that ended at 12:43am, fell behind 1-3 in the third-set tiebreaker and never recovered.
Lopez will play Roger Federer, the six-time tournament champion who beat Kevin Anderson 6-1, 6-1 in only 55 minutes to reach the quarterfinals.
On the women’s side, Williams needed only 54 minutes to beat Italian Karin Knapp 6-0, 6-2. She lost just 12 points while winning the first nine games.
Williams is using the tournament as a final tuneup for the US Open, where she’ll try to complete a calendar grand slam sweep. Her next opponent is Ana Ivanovic, who beat Sloane Stephens 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
A right forearm injury forced Swiss teen Belinda Bencic to withdraw after she dropped the first set against seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova. The 12th-seeded Bencic was coming off the biggest moment of her brief career. She upset Williams in the semifinals at Toronto last week and went on to win the tournament.
Victoria Azarenka became the fourth woman to withdraw from the tournament when two-time Australian Open champion had to stop with leg pain after being taped at the end of the first set, handing a 1-6, 3-0 win to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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