Djokovic Rolls at Rogers Cup
Novak Djokovic recorded his 250th career win at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments on Tuesday, beating Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Rogers Cup second-round.
Bellucci played Djokovic tough, but was just never able to break the Serb. Djokovic broke once in the first set to take it 6-3, and then after both players exchanged holds in the second-set, edged out a tiebreaker to win the straight set match in one hour and 49 minutes.
“Credit to him for playing some really solid, resilient tennis, not giving up, getting a lot of balls back, serving well,” said a complimentary Djokovic. “He’s an all-around player, I think he’s improved over the years.”
Djokovic saved all five break points he faced in the match. He will play the winner of 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov and American Jack Sock. Both players hung on to win their first-round matches on Tuesday.
In a match between two big-servers, Ivo Karlovic edged eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic 7-6(1), 7-6(1) to advance. In the process, Karlovic fired 22 aces, and became just the second player ever to hit 10,000 aces in a career, joining Goran Ivanisevic as the only players to do so.
Karlovic will take on the winner of Jeremy Chardy and Leonardo Mayer.
Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol upset 12th seeded South African Kevin Anderson 7-6(2), 7-6(4) on Tuesday. This match was tight all the way, but Rosol was just a little better in both tiebreakers to pull off the victory.
He will play Ernest Gulbis next. Gulbis rallied from a set down to beat Dominic Thiem 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-1.
American John Isner hung on to beat Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 to set up a matchup with Canadian Vasek Pospisil. Isner hit 23 aces and converted on two of his five break points to advance.
