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Novak Djokovic has made his 9th straight fourth round appearance at the Australian Open with a 7-6 6-3 6-4 win over Fernando Verdasco.
In a quality match, between two top players, Djokovic showed his class in the last two sets to record a straight sets victory.
For a set and a half, Verdasco matched the world number 1, as his serve dominated the contest.
10 aces, and 33 points won out of 43 1st serves, kept the Spaniard in the first set.
Despite conceding 6 break point chances, the Spaniard held on, and forced the set into a tiebreaker.
Unfortunately for the world number 33, he couldn’t get a set point, as Djokovic brought up the first set points of the match.
Verdasco was able to save three of them, but not the fourth, as the Serbian took the 1st set 7-6.
Djokovic then took control of the match and got an early break in the second set.
Despite almost conceding the break back in the next game, Djokovic would control the set, and take it 6-3.
He could have wrapped it up earlier but Verdasco saved three set points at 5-3 on his serve.
In the final set, it was all Djokovic again, as he broke serve in the 5th game of the set.
The world number 1 would then control the next three games on his serve, to wrap up the victory.
After the first set, Verdasco’s serve faltered, and his unforced errors started to rise.
He conceded 50 in the match tonight and also lost 30 points on his second serve.
Once the 1st serves, which dominated the 1st set, left Verdasco’s game, he couldn’t match Djokovic.
The world number 1 will now face Gilles Muller for a spot in the quarter finals on Monday.
World number 1, Novak Djokovic, will try to make the fourth round of the Australian Open for the 9th straight year when he takes on Fernando Verdasco.
Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from 7pm AEDT.
Tonight will be toughest test for Djokovic at the Open so far.
In his opening two rounds, he lost just 14 games, to Aljaz Bedene and Andrey Kuznetsov.
Against Kuznetsov, he won the opening 9 games of the match, and 12 out of the first 14 games.
After battling a cold before the tournament, these two matches have been perfect, for the 4 time champion at the Australian Open.
They have allowed him to recover from the flu, and breeze towards the tougher challenges that lay ahead.
He faces one of them in Fernando Verdasco tonight.
Verdasco, a former semi-finalist at the Australian Open, has also had a comfortable passage to the third round.
He defeated James Ward in four sets in Round 1, before defeating Go Soeda in straight sets in Round 2 on Thursday.
While the Spaniard isn’t in the same form as 2009, when he pushed Rafael Nadal to 5 sets in the semi-final here in Australia, he can be a dangerous opponent on his day.
Last year, for the first time in four years, Verdasco won an ATP tour final in Houston.
It was his first title win since the Barcelona Open in 2010.
His year was an extremely consistent one. He started 2014 at 33 in the world and ended the year at the same number.
He will be looking to bounce back into the top 20 with some decent performances during the season.
It starts tonight against an opponent he has done okay against.
Between Djokovic and Verdasco, they have faced each other 10 times, on the ATP world tour.
Djokovic leads the ledger 6-4 but Verdasco has won two of the last three meetings between the two.
He has also won a set in each of their last seven meetings.
Each contest has been close between the two and I expect tonight’s to be another one of those close battles.
The key for both players will be there serving.
Both players have strong serves and it can win them plenty of free points during the game.
Verdasco has been broken four times so far in two matches, with Djokovic only being broken once in the tournament.
Whoever can limit the break point chances the best will win the match.
The other factor tonight is the forehand from each player.
The forehand from both players are their best weapon.
In the first two rounds, both have hit plenty of winners, with that shot.
Djokovic has 28 winners with the forehand with Verdasco hitting 40 winners so far in the event.
If someone gets on top with their forehand then they are a good chance to win the match.
This match will be closer than people think.
Djokovic has struggled against Verdasco before and the Spaniard can certainly win sets tonight.
Just how many he can win remains to be seen.
After recent matches on Rod Laver Arena, anything can, and will happen in this tournament.
I still predict a Djokovic victory though.
It may take four sets to beat Verdasco but Djokovic will progress to the fourth round.
He is the number 1 player for a clear reason. He will show that tonight.
PREDICTION – Novak 3-1
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