Novak Djokovic beats Cameron Norrie to reach Italian Open last eight

Novak Djokovic booked his place in the Italian Open quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory over British No.1 Cameron Norrie in Rome on Tuesday.

World No.1 Djokovic, the defending champion in Rome, complained about the quality of the courts in the build-up to the match but that did not matter as he battled past Norrie, in what was a repeat of last year’s Wimbledon semi-final.

Tuesday’s last-16 clash was the third time Djokovic and Norrie have faced each other and the first-ever meeting on clay, with the Serbian winning all three times against the world No.13, as he steps up preparations for Roland-Garros.

Djokovic headed into the match as a strong favourite following wins over Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Grigor Dimitrov and will likely next face Holger Rune as he looks to go on and win the title in the penultimate event before the French Open.

The 22-time major champion will be buoyed by Carlos Alcaraz’s shock exit to a Hungarian qualifier in Rome, in what was a major upset, with the young Spaniard – who will still take the world No.1 spot from Djokovic on Monday – having not lost a match on European clay all season, winning titles in Barcelona and Madrid.

Some tipped Alcaraz to win the second Grand Slam of his career at the French Open but a shock exit to Fabian Marozsan is undoubtedly a physiological blow ahead of the action in Paris and may be a boost to Djokovic’s hopes of moving ahead of Rafael Nadal for the most major men’s singles trophies in history.

Djokovic won the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open in January to equal Nadal on 22 major titles and there are question marks over whether or not the Spanish legend – dubbed the ‘King of Clay’ – will play due to injury concerns.

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