Djokovic cruises into the last 16

Jul 27, 2021 06:00 am

Novak Djokovic strolled into the third round of the Tokyo Olympics tennis tournament yesterday, as Japanese star Naomi Osaka's path to gold opened up further after several leading women's seeds exited.

Djokovic smacked 14 aces in a 6-4, 6-3 win over Germany's 48th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff and will play Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for a place in the quarter-finals.

"I was struggling with certain things in the first round, but today was far more pleasant to play, just a higher level of tennis on my side," said the world No. 1, who had led calls to move matches into the cooler evening.

Second seed Osaka, who reached the last 16 after a 6-3, 6-2 win over Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic, meets 2019 French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova next.

Osaka is the highest-ranked player left in the women's draw following the first-round exit of top seed Ashleigh Barty. Third seed Aryna Sabalenka lost to Donna Vekic yesterday. - AFP