Novak Djokovic dominates and thrashes Mannarino to reach Australian Open quarter-finals

Novak Djokovic dominated and defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 on Sunday to cruise into the Australian Open quarter-finals. Mannarino is one of the best an tough players on the ATP Tour. But World No. 1 Djokovic won the first 13 games of the match on the way to his 32nd straight Australian Open victory.

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The Serbian's health issues had no impact on his play. With the roof at Rod Laver Arena closed due to rain, he went on to register a 32nd straight match victory at the tournament and a 58th Grand Slam quarter-final, equalling the record of Roger Federer.

Make that 58 Grand Slam quarter-final appearances🤩

With the win, @DjokerNole equals @rogerfederer's all-time record for most appearances in the last 8 at the majors.@AustralianOpen | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/phXz90nuWW

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 21, 2024

"The first two sets were some of the best sets I've played in a while," Djokovic said. "I wanted to lose that game in the third set because the tension was building up so much in the stadium. I just needed to get that one out of the way so I could refocus on what I needed to do to close out the match. I played great, from the first to the last point."

The Serbian will next face Taylor Fritz who defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the last eight of the Australian Open.

The 36-year-old World No. 1 took a 5-0 lead over Mannarino in their ATP Head2Head series within 1 hour and 44 minutes. The 10-times champion flirted with a 'triple bagel' before sealing a 6-0 6-0 6-3 win to reach the quarter-finals.

"The way I played today, I don't mind playing in the day, to be honest," said Djokovic. "It's no secret I like to play at 7 p.m. but it was not too bad today at all."