Playing for the first time since winning his 24th Grand Slam singles title after beating Daniil Medvedev at the US Open, Novak Djokovic continued his winning ways by stepping out onto the Valencia courts to shatter the hopes of Spain, triumphing over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina with a 6-3, 6-4 dominant win at the 2023 Davis Cup on Friday.
According to Tennis Infinity, this was not the first time Djokovic played against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and similar to their Roland Garros match earlier this year, the Spaniard created some minor problems but couldn’t really defeat the world number one.
Serbian language reaction from Novak Djokovic after his US Open second-round defeat of Bernabe Zapata Miralles
Serbia had a chance to secure a spot in the knockout stages of the Davis Cup Finals with a win today, and they did it. Laslo Djere downed Albert Ramos in the first match, with Djokovic now delivering the second point.
It opened as a close battle between the players, though Djokovic quickly found solutions as he warmed up. Davidovich Fokina is a tremendous player but really struggled against consistent cyborgs like Djokovic.
He tries to overhit, and it just doesn’t work. It certainly didn’t in the opening set, as he had 17 unforced errors and 10 winners. Those numbers must be much closer if he hopes to beat players like Djokovic. He did better in the second set, up 4-1 early.
Djokovic misfired a bit more in this set but still composed himself enough to break back and make it 4-4. He then made it 5-4 as the Spaniard completely collapsed. It was neither shocking nor surprising, and Djokovic was fully ready for it.
He cruised to the finish line ending the second set on a 5-0 run. The final score was 6-3 6-4 for Djokovic, who gets the job done. We’ll see if he opts to play against the Czech Republic tomorrow, as it’s not really needed.
