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World no. 1 Novak Djokovic is safely through into his 14th Australian Open quarter-final. Novak faced the French veteran Adrian Mannarino and scored a dominant 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 triumph in an hour and 44 minutes. Thus, Djokovic notched his 58th Major quarter-final, matching Roger Federer's record.
Mannarino earned three five-setter wins en route to the last 16. However, he stood no chance against Djokovic, losing the opening 13 games before raising his level in the third set to grab three games and avoid a complete disaster.
Novak served at 70% and fired 17 aces, achieving that for the fifth time at the Australian Open, all in the previous four campaigns. Mannarino earned three break chances in the opening two sets, wasting them and suffering six breaks for two bagels!
Novak grabbed 57% of the return points, turning them into seven breaks from 11 opportunities. Adrian struggled to impose his strokes in his games, with Novak taming his serves easily and dominating the rallies.
Novak Djokovic dropped three games against Adrian Mannarino in Melbourne.
The Serb landed 31 winners and 15 unforced errors, reducing the Frenchman to 12 winners and outplaying him in every segment.
Djokovic took over half of the points more than Mannarino, overshadowing him in the shortest, mid-range and most extended exchanges and sailing over the top without losing energy. The rain started to fall during the warm up, with two rivals battling under the closed roof at Rod Laver Arena.
Interestingly, Novak made a shaky start and faced two break points in the encounter's first game. Djokovic denied them with powerful serves and held for 1-0. The Serb placed a volley winner on his third break point in game two, earning an early break and moving in front.
Djokovic claimed an extended rally in the third game, cementing the advantage and opening a 3-0 gap. Mannarino netted a backhand in the fourth game, experiencing another break and falling 4-0 behind.
Novak embraced a serve & volley in the fifth game, holding at love and forcing his rival to serve to stay in the set.
A left-hander experienced a bagel after 33 minutes, with Djokovic landing a deep return to force the rival's mistake and close the set in style. Novak drew Adrian's mistake in the second set's second game, earning a break and missing game points in the next one.
Mannarino created his third and last break point, and Djokovic denied it with an ace. The Frenchman sprayed a backhand error in the fourth game, losing serve and allowing the Serb to rattle off ten games. Novak fired an ace in game five ad delivered his second bagel with a hold at 15 at 5-0, opening a massive advantage after an hour and seven minutes.
Djokovic sailed through his five service games in the third set, and Mannarino could not follow that pace despite raising his level. Novak broke in the fourth game to move 3-1 in front and held at love at 5-3 to seal the deal in style and march into the quarter-final.