Melbourne: Top seed Novak Djokovic angrily blamed floodlights for dropping a set for the first time at this year’s Australian Open tennis tournament as the Serbian defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 here Saturday.
The Serb is looking for a record seventh Aussie crown but was left fuming when leading 3-0 in the third set against the 25th-seeded Canadian when the powerful lights blazed on all around Rod Laver Arena – in bright sunshine.
An irritated Djokovic lost his focus completely and dropped six of the next seven games after querying French umpire Damien Dumusois why the lights were on.
“I think there was no sense to turn on lights on court at 5pm when we have another four hours of daylight,” fumed the Serb 17-time Grand Slam winner. “Did you guys see the balls well?,” he asked the crowd.
Up till his mini-meltdown, Djokovic had made his outing on centre court look like an afternoon practice session for two-and-a-half sets against Shapovalov, one of the NextGen stars tipped to take over from the sport’s old guard
He skilfully dominated the 19-year-old, who could not find enough winners to throw the 14-time Grand Slam winner off his stride until a TV director’s decision gave him a helping hand.
Djokovic took the opening stanza in a routine 35 minutes and looked as if he would easily extend his winning streak against left-handers at Grand Slams to 18 matches.
Djokovic left the court at the end of the third set and came back a new man, unloading a massive primal scream to relieve his tension as he broke for 2-0 before closing out the whirlwind last set in a match that lasted 2hr 22min. He next plays another young gun, Russia’s 22-year-old 15th seed Daniil Medvedev.
On the other hand, Japanese Kei Nishikori was delighted with a straight-sets win, after two previous five-set battles, as he raced through the third round. The in-form eighth seed felt his way into the first set against Portugal’s 44th-ranked Joao Sousa before romping away to a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 6-2 win in two hours and six minutes.
“I love to play this court, I’m very comfortable here,” said the 2014 US Open finalist after delighting a large contingent of Japanese fans.
It looked odds-on for another marathon when they went shot-for-shot in the first set which Nishikori edged in a tiebreak after almost an hour. But as the temperature began to rise in the mid-afternoon sunshine, Nishikori clearly decided he didn’t want to go the distance again.
The 29-year-old Nishikori stepped on the gas, powering 19 unerring winners on his deadly forehand as he took just over an hour more to race through. The Japanese star will play 23rd seed Pablo Carreno Busta next for a place in the quarterfinals.
