Djokovic celebrates birthday with quarter-final win in Geneva

Agency:

Second-seeded Novak Djokovic advanced to the semi-final of the Gonet Geneva Open on Thursday, his 38th birthday, with a 6-4, 6-4 win over eighth-seeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi in Switzerland.

The Serbian avenged a loss to Arnaldi last month at the Mutua Madrid Open. Djokovic’s semi-final opponent is British qualifier Cameron Norrie, who eliminated fifth-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia 7-6 (6), 6-4. Norrie saved four of five break points.

Sixth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland saved all three break points in upsetting top seed Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-6 (5). Hurkacz won 39 of 45 first-serve points (87 percent). Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner rallied past fourth-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the other quarterfinal.

Third-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia, who won this event in 2020, advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Italy’s Luciano Darderi.

Sixth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada outlasted unseeded Frenchman Alexandre Muller 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-3 in a match lasting 89 seconds shy of three hours. Auger-Aliassime had the edge in aces (6-0) and converted 4 of 12 break points, to 2 of 6 for Muller.

In other quarter-final matches, Italy’s Flavio Cobolli dominated the second set in knocking off Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (4), 6-0; and Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry ousted Czech Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-3.