Djokovic, Murray, Nadal and Federer through to Cincinnati quarter-finals
Novak Djokovic acknowledges the crowd after his win over David Goffin of Belgium at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (Getty Images)
The Big 4 of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all made it through to the quarterfinals of the Western and Southern Open Masters 1000 event at Cincinnati. Big-hitting Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro also joined them in the final eight.
World No.1 Djokovic needed just 50 minutes to dispose of Belgian youngster David Goffin 6-2 6-0. Djokovic is aiming to become the first player to complete the ‘Career Golden Masters’ by winning the Cincinnati event; the only one he hasn’t won amongst the nine current Maters 1000 events.
“I played four times (in the) finals, so it’s been one of the tournaments where I’ve performed well actually in the last five, six years,” said Djokovic. “Never managed to take final step and hopefully this year I can do so.”
“I have an extra motivation and an opportunity to make history in this tournament, so I’m very inspired to play well day after day.” added the ‘Djoker’, who will play American John Isner in the quarters.
World No.2 Murray was equally impressive as he made light work of France’s Julien Benneteau to win 6-2 6-2 in 69 minutes. The Scotsman is chasing his third Cincinnati crown as he continues his preparation for the US Open, where he is the defending champion.
“You want to try and get off quickly because you need to play the next day,” said Murray. “But also in 10 days’ time, we’re going to have to play best-of-five sets, so sometimes the long matches can kind of set you up for that well.”
“But in terms of winning this event, better to get off quick because you have to play five days in a row if you want to win.” said the Wimbledon champion.
Murray will play 6th seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
But while Murray and Djokovic had an easy passage, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were tested in their third round encounters by their opponents.
Roger Federer shakes hands with Tommy Haas after beating him at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (Getty Images)
Federer, the defending champion and 5-time winner here, battled back from losing the first set to register a win against veteran Tommy Haas 1-6 7-5 6-3. Federer had missed the Montreal event with a sore back and has struggled for form. He will be in for a far more demanding challenge in the next round where he meets Nadal.
The Spaniard also took 3 sets to beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 5-7 6-2 to extend his hard-court win streak to 12 matches now, starting at Miami. He added the Montreal title to the one in Miami last week.
“Always play against Roger is a special feeling,” said Nadal, who has reached the finals in 10-of-11 events he has entered this season, winning eight of them.
“We have a great history behind us in our confrontations, so it’s another quarter-finals. It’s a special one because you’re playing against a very special player. Our matches were very special always.”
“But, again, it’s a quarter-finals match, not the final, so that’s a big difference.”, said the Spaniard.
This will be the 31st meeting between Federer and Nadal with the Spaniard holding a 20-10 lead in the head-to-head.
Quarterfinal line-up
Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs (7) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)
(1) Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs John Isner (USA)
(5) Roger Federer (SUI) vs (4) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
(2) Andy Murray (GBR) vs (6) Tomas Berdych (CZE)