Novak Djokovic: Berrettini’s tough

Novak Djokovic struggled but advanced within three matches of completing the first menrsquos singles calendaryear Grand Slam in 52 years on Monday by outlasting American Jenson Brooksby at the US OpenWorld No 1 Djokovic rallied past 99thranked Brooksby 16 63 62 62 to book a quarterfinal encounter with Italian sixth seed Matteo Berrettini whom Djokovic called the lsquoHammer of Tennisrsquo as ldquoprobably the hardest hitter of serve and forehandrdquo next to 2009 US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro in a rematch of Julyrsquos Wimbledon finalNovak Djokovic reacts during his match against Jenson Brooksby at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on MondayldquoItrsquos going to be excitingrdquo Djokovic said ldquoHe loves the big stage Big serve big game overall I know what to expect Going to try to prepare a good game plan and hope for the best Hersquos got the lethalserveplusone game Hersquos already established as a top playerrdquo Djokovic said ldquoIf he serves well which is his biggest weapon hersquos tough Hersquos tough on any surface to play againstrdquoThe Serbian star 34 would become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to sweep all four major titles in the same year by capturing his fourth career US Open crown Djokovic also seeks a menrsquos singles record 21st Slam trophy which would boost him one ahead of ldquoBig Threerdquo rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both absent with injuriesIn all Djokovic won 15 of the last 20 games rolling to victory in the stamina test after two hours and 59 minutes Berrettini advanced by defeating 144thranked German qualifier Oscar Otte 64 36 63 62Alexander ZverevZverev Bencic advanceTokyo Olympic champions Alexander Zverev and Belinda Bencic advanced with straightset triumphs as did British qualifier Emma Raducanu 18 German fourth seed Zverev stretched his win streak to 15 matches by beating Italian 13th seed Jannik Sinner 64 64 76 97Swiss 11th seed Bencic eliminated Polish seventh seed Iga Swiatek last yearrsquos French Open champion 76 1412 63Swiss ace Belinda BencicRaducanu steamrolls RogersAnd 150thranked Raducanu ripped 43rdranked American Shelby Rogers 62 61 in 66 minutes Raducanu is only the third qualifier to reach the US Open womenrsquos quarterfinals after Estoniarsquos Kaia Kanepi in 2017 and American Barbara Gerken in 1981Zverev last yearrsquos US Open runnerup reached his seventh career Slam quarterfinal and fourth in the past five Slams He will next face 46thranked Lloyd Harris of South Africa who eliminated US 22nd seed Reilly Opelka 67 68 64 61 63Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova this yearrsquos Wimbledon runnerup beat Russian 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 75 64 She next faces Greek 17th seed Maria Sakkari who ousted 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu 67 27 76 86 63 The Canadian sixth seed was limping with a left thigh injury in the final games before suffering her first US Open loss after three hours and 30 minutesAlso Read Jasprit Bumrah Shardul Thakurrsquos effort was massiveThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever