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World No.1 Novak Djokovic will need to continue improving in the quarter-finals of the US Open if he is to overcome ninth seed and highlight man Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Join The Roar for live scores from around 10:30am (AEST).
Djokovic’s biggest issue coming into the fourth round of the tournament is a lack of court time, and the fact he still appears to be struggling with an arm injury despite that.
He has only played two full matches after he had a walkover in round two, and only got six games into his third-round match before Mikhail Youzhny retired.
In the first round, he struggled through four sets against Jerzy Janowicz, and a couple of days ago he beat Kyle Edmund in straight sets but simply hasn’t looked himself.
After losing a quarter-final battle at Wimbledon, Tsonga, the entertainer that he is has struggled a fraction with a second round exit at the Olympics, and another at Cincinnati against Steve Johnson.
However, he has been strong since arriving in New York only dropping two sets, one against James Duckworth and the other against Jack Sock while he has defeated Guido Andreozzi and Kevin Anderson in straight sets.
The pair have faced off a massive 23 times during their careers, dating all the way back to the 2008 Australian Open when Tsonga shocked the world to make the final, but couldn’t quite get the job done.
Sice then Djokovic has controlled the ledger 16 matches to seven, which includes their last meeting at Indian Wells when he won in straight sets.
They have played six times at grand slams, with Tsonga only winning one of those. However, Tsonga has won all seven of his meetings against Djokovic on the hard court with the last of those coming in 2014 at Toronto.
For Tsonga to become a genuine threat in this match there is no question that he is going to have to get off to a fast start and use his bag of tricks to unsettle Djokovic.
Djokovic, as mentioned hasn’t been at his best so a slow start could see him become a little negative.
The winner of this match will go onto play either Lucas Pouille or Gael Monfils.
Prediction
Djokovic holds the ledger over Tsonga, and it has been a little bit tough for the world No.1. However, he is fantastic at being able to find wins by any means – Tsonga will certainly compete, but he won’t be consistent enough in the long run against the defence of Djokovic.
Djokovic in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this US Open quarter-final from around 10:30am (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde