Errors fail to stop Djokovic
Top-ranked defending champion advances in Melbourne despite 100 unforced errors.
He secures a spot in the Australian Open quarterfinals after a five-set win over Gilles Simon.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic was looking everywhere for answers, even in the crowd.
The top player in tennis, who won 27 of a possible 28 matches in Grand Slam tournaments last year, had the number 100 in the unforced errors column after his 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Gilles Simon at the Australian Open.
The win Sunday secured his spot in the quarterfinals for a 27th consecutive major, equaling Jimmy Connors at No. 2 in that streak and trailing only Roger Federer’s record of 36.
Yet Djokovic still thought it was a forgettable day. He was dissecting the match in an on-court interview when a burst of laughter from the crowd caught his attention.
“Sorry, everybody is laughing. I just want to hear, what did you say?” Djokovic said, looking into the stands. The answer came loud and clear: “No more drop shots.”
“OK, thanks buddy,” Djokovic deadpanned. “I hate to say, but you are absolutely right.”
A handful of ill-advised and poorly executed backhand drop shots by Djokovic made up the most glaring of his unforced errors.
“I don’t think I’ve had any number close to 100,” he said. “In terms of the level that I’ve played, it’s the match to forget for me.”
Federer watched Djokovic’s match, then went out to beat No. 15 David Goffin, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, in a match that finished after 12 a.m. Monday.
Later Monday, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka rolled into the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Barbaro Strycova. She will face No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who defeated fellow German Annika Beck, 6-4, 6-0.
Djokovic, who has won 36 of his last 37 matches at Melbourne Park, next will play No. 7 Kei Nishikori, who beat No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Federer, a four-time champion in Australia, will face No. 6 Tomas Berdych, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 winner over Roberto Bautista Agut.
No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska rallied from 5-2 down in the third set to win 6-7 (6), 6-1, 7-5 against an ailing Anna-Lena Friedsam. Radwanska will play No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, 0-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Earlier Sunday, Nigel Sears, the coach of Ana Ivanovic and father-in-law of No. 2-ranked Andy Murray, was released from a Melbourne hospital, a day after he collapsed in Rod Laver Arena during Ivanovic’s third-round match.
In a statement released by the tournament. Sears said he’d been “cleared to fly back home to the U.K. in the next day or so.”
Ivanovic’s match against Madison Keys was halted for about an hour while medics attended to Sears in the stands. He was carried out of the arena on a stretcher.
Ivanovic had just won the first set when the match was stopped, but Keys came back to win in three sets.