Paris, May 31 (DPA) Novak Djokovic overcame the drudgery of a slow early-morning start to reach the French Open tennis quarter-finals Monday, with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over American Robby Ginepri.
The win in two hours 15 minutes sent Djokovic into a match-up with Austrian Jurgen Melzer who beat Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 a round after the Russian hammered Andy Roddick.
Djokovic said he needed time to get cranked up for the 11 a.m. start but added: ‘I finished in a good way with a lot of winners and aggression.
‘I need to be aggressive from the start and keep on playing all the way. I had some ups and downs, and you could see that in second set. But you cannot always perform 100 percent on every single point.’
Ginepri’s loss brought an end to an unexpected flurry of form for the American, who had not won a match on clay this season ahead of the Paris Grand Slam.
‘Even though I lost the first set, I was still pretty happy with the way I was playing,’ said the last of the US entries. ‘In the third set after I got broken, I kind of let my foot off the gas a little bit.
‘He stepped his game up a lot more, started playing a little bit bigger, hitting the balls deeper. Anything that he tried, it seemed like it worked.
‘Hats off to him, he played well, I thought, in the third and fourth sets,’ said Ginepri.
Djokovic improved to 5-0 in the series, with only one previous match played on clay. The Serb won his 25th match of the season. He reached semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2007 and 2008.
Melzer, ranked 22nd, is the first Austrian to reach the Paris quarters since Thomas Muster 12 years ago, claiming victory in just under three hours. The Austrian has never gone this far at a major and is the oldest man remaining in the draw at age 29.
‘It’s gonna be a tough match for both of us,’ said Djokovic, ‘I wouldn’t give myself too much chances to win, It’s the Grand Slam quarter-finals, the matches are getting tougher.
‘Physically you have to be very fresh and you have to expect the longer rallies. He’s very aggressive, he can play defensive and offensive at the same time. So that’s what makes him very dangerous.
‘I’ll try to keep up the good rhythm that I had in last two matches, and the better man will win.’
On the women’s side, top seed Serena Williams, playing the Paris fourth round for the eighth time in ten years, rolled over Israeli Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-2.
