Novak Djokovic continues his Italian Open defence against British No 1 Cameron Norrie as the last-16 stage begins in Rome. After Carlos Alcaraz was stunned by the world number 135 Fabian Marozsan on Monday, Djokovic has the chance to close the gap to the young Spaniard in the rankings as the Serbian continues his French Open preparations.
Djokovic has won his previous two meetings against Norrie, including in the Wimbledon semi-finals last July. This will be their first clash on clay, which is a surface Norrie has put significant time and effort to improve on this year. Norrie, the 13th seed in Rome, suffered early defeats in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, however, and is still trying to find his rhythm ahead of Roland Garros.
As is Djokovic, who with a 2-2 record has as many defeats as victories on clay so far this season. But the 35-year-old was also on patchy form this time last year before going to win the Italian Open, as Djokovic looks to find his title-winning form before the second grand slam of the season. Follow live updates from Djokovic vs Norrie, below:
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Novak Djokovic vs Cameron Norrie: Defending champion finding form
Novak Djokovic advanced to the last-16 with a 6-3 4-6 6-1 victory over Bulgarian 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday. The Serbian overcame a sluggish start and a late comeback attempt by familiar opponent Dimitrov to get over the line in their third-round meeting.
Djokovic said: “The more matches you play, this is kind of a surface that the more matches you play, the better you will feel. Of course, I would love to play a maximum amount of matches in this tournament. That’s why I’m here.
“It’s a different scheduling this year than any other year that I played in Rome. Obviously with an extended duration of the tournament, you have a day off between matches, which in some way it’s good because you get a chance to recover more, to work on a practice court on the specifics of your game, then perform on the court in best possible way.
“I think I’m getting closer to the desired level. Of course, you can always play better, but today I had a really good quality opponent and I think I delivered for most part of the match except the last four games of the second set. Other than that I think I was really solid, served well, moved well. When I had opportunities, I was capitalizing on those opportunities.
“Just overall a really solid performance and definitely a better level than in the first match. Hopefully I can keep the same trajectory in the next one.”
Novak Djokovic vs Cameron Norrie: Elsewhere at the Italian Open
- World number three Daniil Medvedev earned a hard-fought 3-6 6-1 6-3 win over Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles to reach the last 16 in Rome for the first time.
- Sixth seed Andrey Rublev also advanced after defeating Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(8) 6-3.
- Stefanos Tsitsipas’s match against Lorenzo Sonego, as well as Alexander Zverev’s clash with J.J. Wolf were suspended due to rain and will be concluded on Tuesday. Tsitsipas had taken the first set 6-3 against Sonego while Zverev leads 6-4 3-3 against Wolf.
- Elena Rybakina saw off Marketa Vondrousova 6-3 6-3 to reach her first claycourt WTA 1000 quarter-final, where she will face either top-ranked Iga Swiatek, the twice defending champion, or Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
- Zheng Qinwen earlier beat Chinese compatriot Wang Xiyu 6-4 3-6 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals while American Madison Keys lost 2-6 6-2 6-4 against Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina.
Novak Djokovic vs Cameron Norrie: Carlos Alcaraz stunned in third round
Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock loss to lowly-ranked Hungarian Fabian Marozsan in the third round of the Italian Open in Rome.
Alcaraz will take over from Novak Djokovic as world number one next Monday but his French Open preparations suffered a blow with a 6-3 7-6 (4) loss to 135th-ranked Marozsan.
The 23-year-old had never played in the main draw of an ATP event or beaten a top-100 player prior to arriving in the Italian capital but, having come through qualifying, he now finds himself in the last 16 of one of the biggest tournaments outside the grand slams.
“He made me feel uncomfortable on court,” Alcaraz said at his post-match press conference. “He was aggressive all the time. It was tough for me to get into the match, into the rally. I made a lot of mistakes that I usually don’t make.
“Obviously these days can happen in tennis and you have to handle it. He surprised me a lot. His level was really, really high. If he plays at that level, he’s going to surprise more than one. I’m sure he’s going to break the top 100 very, very soon.”
Novak Djokovic vs Cameron Norrie: Last time out
Cameron Norrie took full advantage of a favourable draw to become just the fourth home player in the Open era to make the last four in the men’s singles Wimbledon last summer.
But trying to beat Novak Djokovic, who has not lost a match at Wimbledon since 2017, was a completely different challenge and, although Norrie made a superb start, the eventual seven-time champion hit back emphatically to win 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Norrie said: “I think it was a good experience obviously to play him. Especially the level he brings here at Wimbledon. It gives me a lot of confidence.
“But it doesn’t mean anything. I think I need to keep working hard and I’ve still got a lot of things I can improve in my game. To reach the semis, reach the Friday of the second week, is pretty sick. But I want to do more of that and go one further and try to win a slam.
“A lot of firsts for me this week, a lot of good experiences. Hopefully I can take them in my stride. Comparing to Novak, I think it was just the level of execution from him today was better than me. His level of focus, the way he handled his service games was better than me.”
Today is their first meeting since.
When is Novak Djokovic vs Cameron Norrie?
Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie are due to meet in the fourth round of the Italian Open in Rome on Tuesday 16 May. The match is scheduled first on Centre Court, with a start time of 10am BST. The winner will face either Alexei Popyrin or Holger Rune in the quarter finals.
How can I watch it?
Viewers in the United Kingdom will be able to watch the match, and all of the action from the Italian Open, live on Amazon Prime Video.
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Novak Djokovic continues his Italian Open defence against British No 1 Cameron Norrie as the last-16 stage begins in Rome. After Carlos Alcaraz was stunned by the world number 135 Fabian Marozsan on Monday, Djokovic has the chance to close the gap to the young Spaniard in the rankings as the Serbian continues his French Open preparations.
Djokovic has won his previous two meetings against Norrie, including in the Wimbledon semi-finals last July. This will be their first clash on clay, which is a surface Norrie has put significant time and effort to improve on this year. Norrie, the 13th seed in Rome, suffered early defeats in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, however, and is still trying to find his rhythm ahead of Roland Garros.
As is Djokovic, who with a 2-2 record has as many defeats as victories on clay so far this season. But the 35-year-old was also on patchy form this time last year before going to win the Italian Open, as Djokovic looks to find his title-winning form before the second grand slam of the season. Follow live updates from Djokovic vs Norrie in today’s live blog:
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