Etcheverry did what he could against Djokovic who gave him a tennis lesson and advances to the Australian Open

Thomas Engraving he did what he could in the face of Novak Djokovic who regained his brilliance and in his hundredth game in the Australia Open he completed his best performance so far in the 2024 edition of the competition. The 6-3, 6-3 and 7-6(2), after two hours and 28 minutes of fighting, earned the Serbian a ticket to the round of 16.

With his victory, the reigning champion overtook the Spaniard Rafael Nadal and confirmed himself as the second tennis player with the most appearances (16) in the round of 16 of the Australian Open, in a list led by the Swiss Roger Federer, present on 18 occasions.

The champion of the 24 majors also certified his 63rd appearance in the fourth round of a ‘slam’ and has come close to the Swiss master Federer who, with 69 appearances, is the one who has played the most fourth rounds.

His rival will be the French Adrian Mannarino, who defeated the American Ben Shelton in five sets (16). It will be the fifth face-to-face match after four victories for Nole, in which they lost only one set in the last one, played in 2018.

“It was a great match, my best match so far. The first two sets were of a high level,” said the Balkan player in front of Rod Laver’s audience, which erupted into a loud ovation after the current champion recounted the difficulties financial. lived as a young man in a country affected by war.

As for the match, both tennis players started without taking excessive risks, trying to find the rhythm from the baseline and with very effective serves.

However, the ten-time champion demonstrated the reason for his love affair with this court and took advantage of the first doubts of the Argentine, who lowered his consistency with the first serve and gave Djokovic the chance to demonstrate have one of the best answers ever. the world. the history of this sport.

Nole broke to establish a 4-2 which would lead to an initial 6-3, dominated by an apparent parity, which resulted in 11 unforced errors from the Balkan player and ten from the Argentine.

Etcheverry, who won with solvency in the previous rounds against the English Andy Murray and to Gaul Gael Monfilshe demonstrated unquestionable solidity from behind with cross-court shots but his inability to rise to the net or change direction from the backhand improved Djokovic who did not decrease his accuracy on serve and changed direction at will.

The second set began with an early ‘break’ which further sunk the conservative proposal of an Etcheverry tennis player forged in brick dust and, consequently, with the designs of this surface obsolete on Australian hard courts.

The only thing that kept the Argentine afloat was good serviceagainst a Djokovic who had to maintain his plan, consistency in the background and changes to the parallel bars especially from the backhand, until a 6-3 in the second round which made the path for an industrious Etcheverry even more difficult.

Even Djokovic was not distracted after the referee gave him a warning for not having respected the 25 seconds they have between one point and another of the service and, in spite of themselves disagreementhe held back and continued with his routine dribbles before executing the serving motion.

His 36 years weighed on him and his physique prevented him from continuing with the same confidence against an Etcheverry who in the end decided to take a few more risks, with a greater vocation to finish the points in the net.

The best exchanges came in the chapter that would have been the final one, to delight a noisy Rod Laver who was amazed by long exchanges of the highest quality.

The experienced Djokovic won in the tie break for the final 7-6(2), against an Etcheverry who left everything on the court and who will proudly return to Argentina after achieving his best record in Melbourne.