Novak Djokovic, world number 1, comfortably reached the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters 1000, beating British player Cameron Norrie (13th) 6-3 and 6-4, who unintentionally hit the Serbian with a shot to the leg during a volley.
Nole, who will surrender the number 1 ranking to Carlos Alcaraz on Monday, already eliminated in Rome, played his 77th match in the Italian capital, equaling Rafael Nadal's record.
He will play for a spot in the semifinals against Danish player Holger Rune (7th), who needed three sets to defeat Australian player Alexei Popyrin (77th) 6-4, 5-7, and 6-4.
"Although he is very young, I know his game quite well. He has been on the circuit for several years playing great tennis, particularly in the last one. He is in great shape, and I think it will be a very physical match," Djokovic predicted.
Rock-solid ????
Djokovic is through to the QF defeating Norrie in straight sets 6-3 6-4! #IBI23 | @atptour pic.twitter.com/RnaJKHLpPY
The Serbian has reached the quarter-finals of the Foro Italico for the 17th consecutive time. Against Norrie, he started off strongly with a break that put him up 3-0. Without being brilliant, but very solid in rallies, he took the first set without hesitation.
In the second set, when Djokovic was leading 2-1, Norrie hit a strong shot to the Serbian's legs, who had turned his back on the play and was not expecting it.
What happened there? ????#IBI23 pic.twitter.com/anA3ZvqVjj
The British player apologized with his hand, but Djokovic looked at him for a few seconds and approached the net, waiting for an explanation that never came.
Until the end, Djokovic remained serious, making it clear that the slight apology with the hand was not enough.
He closed the match without losing his composure and greeted Norrie with all the coldness he could display.
In a press conference, Djokovic didn't shy away from criticizing Norrie: "He's a very nice guy off the court, so I don't understand this attitude on the court, doing things that we know in the locker room are not fair play."
"I saw the replay when he hit me. Maybe you can say that he didn't do it on purpose. I don't know if he saw me. Peripherally, you can always see the player's position on the court. The ball was very slow and very close to the net. I turned around because the point was lost for me," 'Djoko' explained.
In addition, Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th) finished the third-round match that had been interrupted by rain on Monday with a victory over Italian player Lorenzo Sonego (48th) 6-3 and 7-6 (7/3).
German player Alexander Zverev (22nd) also advanced to the round of 16, beating American player J.J. Wolf (54th) 6-4 and 7-5.
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