"I served well, that kept me alive" - Djokovic following win over Hurkacz

Novak Djokovic will play Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal in Madrid after taking down Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 6-4 in the quarterfinal.

The Serbian played his best match of the year by far against the tricky Hurkacz in unfavourable conditions. Djokovic was able to take advantage of the Polish player in the first set as he was not playing that well. Hurkacz played better in the 2nd as did Djokovic whose serve kept him alive in moments when big-serving applied pressure.

Djokovic said:

“I was serving really well in the second set, I think that kept me alive. I was pleased with the way I was constructing points. I tried to make him run and miss and overall It was a solid performance."

He further added:

“It is definitely warmer today, even in the past two hours since the warm-up, the bounce of the ball has increased by two metres. Hubi is tall and with his rotation in this altitude, everything bounces really high, so I was standing [deep] in the court, trying to mix things up. Put pressure on his first serve. It took us both time to adjust and the second set I think was better quality.”