Spanish tennis great, Rafael Nadal is on course for a 10th Internazionali d’Italia title as he comfortably beat Dusan Lajovic to join top seed Novak Djokovic in the last eight. Competing in his first tournament since February, Nadal has looked in fine form in Rome and followed up Wednesday’s impressive 6-1 6-1 dismantling of Pablo Carreno Busta with another encouraging display, beating Lajovic 6-1 6-3.
Meanwhile, world number one and number one seed, Novak Djokovic is also through to the quarter-finals after a tough battle against fellow Serb, Filip Krajinovic. Djokovic admitted afterwards that he was “pushed to the limit” by Krajinovic before eventually finding a way through.
The world number one advanced to the last eight for a 14th straight year at the tournament with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 victory over Krajinovic.
Djokovic had not faced Krajinovic in more than a decade and said it was difficult facing off against one of his closest friends.
“It was one of the longest sets of my career,” he said of the first set which lasted an hour and 27 minutes. “It is never easy to play against one of your best friends of so many years.
“We have only played 10 years ago in Serbia and he has changed as a person and as a player. It is rare that we have not played against each other in this decade. We trained several times together and we have played the Davis Cup together; it was good to play against him.
“Janko Tipsarevic [Krajinovic’s coach], a Serbian tennis legend, is doing a great job with him. He’s in the top 30; I know he’s in shape.
“I did not start the game as I wanted. I made many unforced errors, but we must congratulate him for pushing me to the limit.”
Djokovic saved five of six break points to seal the win after two hours and seven minutes, setting up a quarter-final clash with Dominik Koepfer.
