Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open for the 17th consecutive year

Novak Djokovic stormed into the quarter-finals of the Italian Open tennis tournament for the 17th consecutive year with a straight sets victory over 13th seed Cameron Nori here on Tuesday. Djokovic, eyeing a seventh title on the red clay courts of Foro Italico, won 6-3, 6-4. The sky was cloudy after rain in the morning but Djokovic looked completely focused from the start. He committed 14 unforced errors, less than half as many as Nori’s 29, while hitting 21 winners to his opponent’s 19. Djokovic will lose the world number one ranking to Carlos Alcarez after this tournament.

Alcarez suffered a loss on Monday against world number 135 qualifier Fabian Merosan of Hungary. In such a situation, Alcarez will get the top seed while Djokovic will get the second seed in the French Open starting in 12 days. Djokovic will next take on the winner of the match between seventh seed Holger Rooney and Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin.