ASTANA, Kazakhstan— No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia overwhelmed Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Astana Open in Kazakhstan.
The other semi-final witnessed third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas rallied to win a gripping first set, then the Greek broke late in the second for a 7-6(8), 6-3 victory against Hubert Hurkacz.
Djokovic required just 71 minutes claiming victory in his maiden ATP Head2Head clash against the World No. 34 van de Zandschulp, striking the ball just as cleanly as he had in his impressive first-round dismissal of Cristian Garin.
Having arrived in Kazakhstan off the back of clinching his 89th tour-level crown in Tel Aviv, Djokovic is now on a six-match winning streak.
Despite the score line, van de Zandschulp found some success against the Djokovic serve, carving out one break point opportunity in each set. Yet the Serbian was pleased with the rhythm he found behind his delivery when he needed it most.
“I think my serve worked very well when I needed to get out of the trouble in the first set particularly,” said Djokovic, who has not dropped serve in his past three matches.
“There were some 30/30 games, and when I broke his serve for 4-2, I faced a break point and I came in, and he had a look at that passing shot and he missed it. The match is decided in these moments. [Between] 5-2 or 4-3 up there is a big difference, and I served well to end the first set.”
From 1-1 in the second set, Djokovic reeled off five games in a row to clinch his 30th tour-level win of the year in style. The seven-time year-end No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings finished the match having converted four from five break points in a comprehensive victory.
“[In the] second set I think I started to read his serve better and just started swinging through the court more,” said Djokovic. “Botic is a quality tennis player. When he has time, he can hurt you, so I tried to take away that time from him and I’m very pleased with the way I played, particularly in the second.”
Djokovic is now up to 12th place in the ATP Live Race To Turin thanks to his two wins so far this week. The five-time Nitto ATP Finals champion needs to finish in the Top 20 in order to secure qualification for November’s season finale.
Djokovic has now reached the quarter-final stage in eight of the nine tournaments he has played in 2022.
Tsitsipas downs Hurkacz
Tsitsipas powered into his ninth semi-final this season and improved his Head2Head lead against Hurkacz to 7-2. This, however, marked a first straight-set result in their past seven duels.
Tsitsipas has yet to be broken in three matches at the ATP 500 in Kazakhstan, although it looked like he would concede his first set of the week when his fellow Top 10 star in the ATP Rankings held five set points in the first-set tie-break.
On the third one of those, the Greek looked in particular trouble. With Hurkacz serving, Tsitsipas threw up a defensive lob after the Pole’s forehand approach. But Hurkacz, so assured on smashes previously in the set, erred wide.
Two more set points came and went for the seventh seed before Tsitsipas capitalised on his lone opportunity when Hurkacz’s backhand passing shot strayed wide.
“Most of those situations, I was not the fortunate one serving,” Tsitsipas said post-match, referring to the set points. “I was still able to break through and get back fighting, and it was very, very emotional to get that first tie-break after having thrown my body on the court.
“It was a very good moment to finish it off and get the tie-break.”
His good form in tie-breaks in Astana thus continued, after Tsitsipas won both against Italian qualifier Luca Nardi in the second round.
Hurkacz had done well to force the tie-break given he saved all eight break points he faced in three successive service games. Clutch serving proved key, as the Pole produced seven first serves, which prompted seven returns that did not clear the net. On the other one, Hurkacz served and volleyed behind a second serve.
It countered Tsitsipas’ own service games. At one stretch in the first, the Greek won 11 straight points behind his delivery. Overall, Tsitsipas only lost 10 points on serve. Hurkacz was bound to be reeling early in the second but steadied early. At 3-4, though, he relinquished serve from 40/15 in the second set’s lone break-point chance.
“I got that break I was looking for in one of the very last moments of the match, which gave me such a relief after trying to break him for so long,” said Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas then comfortably served it out, helped by a net cord on his first match point. In deep concentration, he initially did not know the match finished.
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