ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Djokovic recovers from shaky start to reach Adelaide quarters

Djokovic recovers from shaky start to reach Adelaide quarters

Published Jan 5, 2023 02:50 pm

ADELAIDE (AFP) — Novak Djokovic overcame a shaky start to beat Frenchman Quentin Halys on Thursday, Jan. 5, and reach the Adelaide quarter-finals, stepping up his preparations for the Australian Open.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic hits a return against France's Quentin Halys during their men's singles match at the Adelaide International tennis tournament in Adelaide on January 5, 2023. (AFP)

The top seed from Serbia won 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) and will face Canada's Denis Shapovalov in the last eight of the Adelaide International.

Djokovic returned to the scene of his 2007 title run on Tuesday with a comfortable straight-sets win over France's Constant Lestienne.

He backed that up against Lestienne's doubles partner Halys but was slow to get going, slumping 2-5 in the first set before clinching victory.

"It was a great performance from my opponent today," said the 35-year-old Djokovic, who is warming up for a tilt at a 10th Australian Open title after missing last year's Grand Slam when he was deported over his vaccination status.

"He played like a top-10 player today.

"As far as my game goes, I feel good on the court," Djokovic added.

"I didn't have such a great start and he was serving really well. Tough to break so two tiebreaks were probably the most realistic score."

With the crowd firmly behind the former world number one on a packed centre court, Djokovic -- who won Wimbledon among five titles last year -- lost his opening service game against the 64th-ranked Frenchman.

He earned two break points in game three but was unable to convert, biding his time until the seventh game, when he broke to love then raced through the tiebreak.

Nothing separated them in the second set, which again went to a tiebreak, after Halys saved two match points at 5-4, with Djokovic finally prevailing when Halys netted a backhand.

Djokovic's reward is a clash with world number 18 Shapovalov, who sailed into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin.

Djokovic has won all seven previous encounters with the Canadian.

Shapovalov is still riding the wave of leading Canada to the Davis Cup title and said he was determined to maintain his good form.

"Definitely trying to implement that on the individual side. Obviously so far it's been a great start. Hopefully I can capitalise on a good start to the week and definitely excited for what's to come," he said.

Also in the last 16, American Sebastian Korda beat Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4. Adelaide defending champion Thanasi Kokkinakis meets Jannik Sinner later Thursday.

In the women's draw, Czech teen Linda Noskova defeated American Claire Liu 6-2, 6-2 to power into the last eight where she will play either Victoria Azarenka or Chinese qualifier Zheng Qinwen.

But former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko crashed out to Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-0, who will face Russian world number nine and fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova next.

Tunisian world number two Ons Jabeur, who reached two Grand Slam finals last year, faces Romania's Sorana Cirstea later.

Related Tags

Novak Djokovic
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.