Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Sunday January 19, 2025 at 12:33 p.m.
Two days after having already defeated another Czech, Novak Djokovic outclassed Jiri Lehecka helplessly against the Serb on Sunday in the round of 16 (6-3, 6-4, 7-6). The world number 7, qualified for a fifteenth Grand Slam quarter-final, joins Carlos Alcaraz for the long-awaited reunion between the two men.
All of Melbourne dreamed of it. Six months after the Serbian won his very first Olympic gold medal at the expense of his young Spanish rival, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will meet face to face in the quarter-finals of this Australian Open. After the second took advantage of the withdrawal of Jack Draper to qualify for the quarters of the tournament for the second year in a row, the first joined him in the next round by also validating his ticket for the rest. The Serb did not benefit from his opponent's abandonment. However, he did not tremble much (6-3, 6-4, 7-6 victory in 2h39 of play) to keep Jiri Lehecka out of his way, in the same way that he had not experienced any difficulty during his previous match to eject another Czech: Tomas Machac.
-Djokovic joins Alcaraz and… Federer
It must be said that Benjamin Bonzi's executioner in the 3rd round greatly made life easier for the former world number 1 by truly starting his match in the third set only, and while the “Djoker” had already taken (easily) two sets in advance. The 29th in the ranking, broken from the start in the third round but who had immediately erased his delay, then had a few opportunities to restart, but without managing to seize them. And what was emerging a little more as the games progressed arrived, with the last word for the ten-time winner of the tournament in the decisive game which came to decide (7 points to 4 for Djokovic) the two players during this unique set clinging to the part.
When Djokovic refuses to answer questions…
It allowed the Serbian, who at the same time equaled Roger Federer (and overtook Rafael Nadal and John Newcombe), to make an appointment for a fifteenth quarter-final in Melbourne. A shock quarter therefore against Alcaraz. Before facing the Spaniard again, the world number 7 (and seed number 7 this year in Melbourne) leads 4-3. Beaten in the final of the last Wimbledon by Juan Carlos Ferrero's protégé, as had already been the case the previous year, the “Djoker”, now trained by Andy Murray, had in fact taken his revenge during the Paris 2024 Games in last August. Already leading this long-awaited reunion, the Serbian refused to answer Jim Courier's questions on court after his victory, contenting himself only with thanking (very briefly) the public. This is promising.
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