By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Serbian tennis powerhouse Novak Djokovic is a man on a mission after formalizing his seat in the quarterfinals of the ongoing French Open last June 5, 2023.
Djokovic crushed Juan Pablo Varillas- 6.3, 6.2, 6.2- in their French Open fourth-round clash held at the Philippe-Chatrier in Paris, France.
It was another walk-in-the-park victory for the world no. 3 ranked male tennis player after remaining consistent with his on-point baseline attacks for three-straight sets.
Djokovic also flirted his service power percentage and tallied a total of seven possession aces built from an 80% first service rating.
It was like watching Djokovic hammer his opponents when he was still injury-free, covering all the court area with his speed while rallying back to the middle of the baseline to score jaw-dropping down-the-line bombs.
There was nothing Varillas could do when Djokovic started to heat up midway through the first set and just pummeled the Peruvian star in all departments of the match.
When Varillas decided to go toe-to-toe with Djokovic in the second set, worse things fell at his place when the Serbian out-pointed him during the long baseline rallies.
Varillas pulled out his last card in the desperation third set and opted for a serve-and-volley game plan which also didn’t work out against the more experienced Djokovic.
With the win, Djokovic just extended his undefeated set streak in the ongoing Roland Garros and is yet to drop a set entering the quarterfinals.
Aside from his chase of another championship title in France, Djokovic is also targeting the most Grand Slam wins in men’s tennis history and is currently in a deadlock with Rafael Nadal.
If Djokovic takes this 2023 Roland Garros, he will then surpass Nadal and win his 23rd overall Grand Slam championship title.
