Quarter-finals of an ATP 1000 tournament at Cincinnati, USA (hard). There we also have a guy who’s surprised everyone by reaching this stage facing off against the defending champion. To have more insights on this ATP Novak Djokovic vs Lucas Pouille match, please check out the preview below.

 

Novak Djokovic

No surprises here at all for the 1st ranked, 32 years old Serbian superstar. He’s only played 2 matches on a hard surface after the Wimbledon and both of these matches were played here, at Cincinnati. It means that Djokovic had a lot of rest and preparation for this tournament as well as the upcoming US Open. He’s feeling fresh and that translates to his game – both of the matches were won in straight sets without any difficulties. Knowing that Federer has dropped out of the tournament yesterday, Djokovic should have an easy road to defend the title. Novak has only lost 3 out of 20 matches he’s played on hard this year, and 2 of these losses were against Bautista-Agut, so maybe this is a matchup where things will get more interesting.

 

Lucas Pouille

25 years old, currently ranked 31st overall, former world’s no. 10 is looking way better this tournament than he were earlier this year while playing on hard. As Pouille mentioned before, he’s feeling healthy and a lot better at the moment, and it really translates to his game. The Frenchman had no problems against D. Kudla and D. Shapovalov in first 2 matches at Cincinnati. He’s also surprisingly come out as a winner against K. Khachanov yesterday after Russian took over the 1st set. Anyway, Pouille came back strongly and finished the match in 3 sets. Lucas is a very hard hitter who doesn’t let down to anyone he plays against, but the main struggle comes with unforced errors, and he’s often doing a lot of them. Some opponents might not use it too much, but Djoko is definitely not going to forgive any of these tomorrow.

 

Novak Djokovic vs Lucas Pouille H2H

These players have met only once, in the Australian Open this year. Novak came out as a winner in straight sets 6-0 6-2 6-2.

 

Article image is taken from https://www.thenational.ae